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MY BONDAGE and MY FREEDOM _By_ FREDERICK DOUGLASS _By a principle essential to Christianity, a PERSON is eternally differenced from a THING; so that the idea of a HUMAN BEING, necessarily excludes the idea of PROPERTY IN THAT BEING_. COLERIDGE

Entered according to Act of Congress in 1855 by Frederick Douglass in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Northern District of New York

TO HONORABLE GERRIT SMITH, AS A SLIGHT TOKEN OF ESTEEM FOR HIS CHARACTER, ADMIRATION FOR HIS GENIUS AND BENEVOLENCE, AFFECTION FOR HIS PERSON, AND GRATITUDE FOR HIS FRIENDSHIP, AND AS A Small but most Sincere Acknowledgement of HIS PRE-EMINENT SERVICES IN BEHALF OF THE RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES OF AN AFFLICTED, DESPISED AND DEEPLY OUTRAGED PEOPLE, BY RANKING SLAVERY WITH PIRACY AND MURDER, AND BY DENYING IT EITHER A LEGAL OR CONSTITUTIONAL EXISTENCE, This Volume is Respectfully Dedicated, BY HIS FAITHFUL AND FIRMLY ATTACHED FRIEND, FREDERICK DOUGLAS. ROCHESTER, N.Y.

CONTENTS

EDITORS PREFACE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

LIFE AS A SLAVE?

I--CHILDHOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 II--REMOVED FROM MY FIRST HOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 III--PARENTAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 IV--A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE SLAVE PLANTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 V--GRADUAL INITIATION INTO THE MYSTERIES OF SLAVERY. . . . . . . . . 61 VI--TREATMENT OF SLAVES ON LLOYDS PLANTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 VII--LIFE IN THE GREAT HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 VIII--A CHAPTER OF HORRORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 IX--PERSONAL TREATMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 X--LIFE IN BALTIMORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111 XI--"A CHANGE CAME O'ER THE SPIRIT OF MY DREAM". . . . . . . . . . .118 XII--RELIGIOUS NATURE AWAKENED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127 XIII--THE VICISSITUDES OF SLAVE LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135 XIV--EXPERIENCE IN ST. MICHAEL'S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144 XV--COVEY, THE NEGRO BREAKER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159 XVI--ANOTHER PRESSURE OF THE TYRANTS VICE. . . . . . . . . . . . . .172

<xii> CONTENTS

XVII--THE LAST FLOCCING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180 XVIII--NEW RELATIONS AND DUTIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194 XIX--THE RUN-AWAY PLOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209 XX--APPRENTICESHIP LIFE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235 XXI--MY ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248

LIFE AS A FREEMAN XXII--LIBERTY ATTAINED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .261 XXIII--INTRODUCED TO THE ABOLITIONISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278 XXIV--TWENTY-ONE MONTHS IN GREAT BRITAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . .284 XXV--VARIOUS INCIDENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .304

APPENDIX RECEPTION SPEECH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .318 LETTER TO HIS OLD MASTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .330 THE NATURE OF SLAVERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .337 INHUMANITY OF SLAVERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .343 WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE FOURTH OF JULY? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .349 THE INTERNAL SLAVE TRADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .354 THE SLAVERY PARTY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .358 THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .363

MY BONDAGE _and_ MY FREEDOM

EDITOR'S PREFACE

If the volume now presented to the public were a mere work of ART, the history of its misfortune might be written in two very simple words--TOO LATE. The nature and character of slavery have been subjects of an almost endless variety of artistic representation; and after the brilliant achievements in that field, and while those achievements are yet fresh in the memory of the million, he who would add another to the legion, must possess the charm of transcendent excellence, or apologize for something worse than rashness. The reader is, therefore, assured, with all due promptitude, that his attention is not invited to a work of ART, but to a work of FACTS--Facts, terrible and almost incredible, it may be yet FACTS, nevertheless.