"The Rise Of Frederick Douglass"
...of his father's identity, he was left to bear the burden of slavery all on his own.
Early on Douglass realized that an education was his ticket to freedom. Throughout his
life Douglas met many obstacles on his way to freedom, and more often than not these
obstacles were created at the hands of one of his many masters.
In his letters, Douglass speaks of no less than five masters under which he was
forced to serve, his original master, the Auld brothers, Mr. Covey, and William Freeland.
While all of these men were bad, some actually meant well and were simply victims of
their time. However some of these men were cruel and vicious and were the lowest
forms American society has ever had to offer. Now, let us attempt to separate the good
apples from the bad.
Douglass's first master, Captain Anthony, probably had the least direct influence
in his life. While he was certainly a bad man, witnessed by Douglass in the beatings and
torture of his aunt, his exposure to this man was limited due to the fact young children
usually stayed on the outskirts of the plantation, so his time with this master was of
smaller significance. Anthony's importance lies in the fact that he is probably Douglass's
father. We learn that this is a suspicion of Frederick's, and this suspicion is backed up by
the fact that he is sent away at an early age something that many slave owners do to their
slave sons.
The first family Frederick was sent to were the Aults. It is hard to categorize
as either a bad or good master Hugh and Mrs. Ault. While with this family he was
treated as...
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