,0^ 0^ r.0 rO 'O'^ ^•^^x. s*.^ & .-JV^ A ^ °^ '. ^^ \ :'jf\%id'. \ .^^ .-'fife'- '^^ >* -kVA' ■'-^^ ..<,'^* •' > ^-o ♦V -^o FREDERICK DOUGLASS A NARRATIVE BY LEILA AMOS PENDLETON WASHINGTON, D. C. 19 2 1 -L UhC^/iy^l ©C1A631989 ^v* / Frederick Douglass: A Narrative BY LEILA AMOS PENDLETON. THE life of Fredeiifk Douglass reads like a romance, at times almost tragie in its develoiTment. Born on the forsaken Eastern fShore of ^laryland, the exact date of his l>iitli unknown to him, l)orn a slave and suffering all which that condition entailed in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, he lived to gain the respect of the whole enlightened world and the admira- tion and friendship of rulers of the earth. His mother, having nothing else to liestow upon him. started him off in life with the resounding cognomen of Frederick Augus'ra; "Washington Bailey. This name has com])anion3 soon shortened to "Gus. Bailey," and by the latter title he was knovrn for some ye:irs. While still very young, he was separated from bis mother, and hi> earliest recollections of her were that she would often steal from the plantation where she worked, miles away, and would come to see him in the middle of the night. She died while her beloved son v.'as still vt^y young. At an early age Frederick was sent to Baltimore, loaned as a comj)?nicn and playmate for little Tommy Auld, son of ^Ir. and ^Irs. Hugh Auld. relations-in-law to Col. Anthony who was Fi'cd's real o'snier; he remained with the Anlds seven years. While Hugh Auld was, at the worst, antagonistic to little Fred and at the best indiff'erent. his wife. Sophia, was friendly, even tender to the motherless slave child. INIrs. Auld taught him th-^ rudiments of reading and was very proud of his aptness, but when her hus- l)and discovered what she was about he sternly forbade her to continue. When al)()ut sixteen years old, because of a disagreement between Hugh and Thomas Auld. the latter of whom was now his owner. Frederick was sent to work with other slave •; on the farm of Edward Covey, notorious as a ''Negro-breaker." It was here that Fred made his first resistance against the system of slavery. Covey, the overseer, had often beaten him most brutally, but at the end of six months Frederick determined that he should not do so again. So vigorously did he protect himself by overpowering and fright- ening' Covey that the latter did not again dare to attack him. Tn 1836 in company AVith some other slaves he made an attemi)t to escape from slavery. They were caught and Frederick was once more sent to Hugh Auld in Baltimore. GopyrigKt. 1921, by Leila Amos Pendleton. Washington. D. C. Tired of the humiliations and vicissitudes of slavery, he deter- mined in 1838 to make another bold stroke for freedom, this time alone. He borrowed a "Sailor's Protection" (of equal value to a "free paper") from a sea-faring- friend, dressed himself in sailor fashion and boarded the train to Philadelphia. His calm and dig- nified deportment, in spite of inward trepidation, 8tood him in good stead ; three times he was in danger of being- recognized but he succeeded in reaching the Quaker City unmolested. He went on to New York the same night, September 3rd, 1838, and found there a measure of the freedom for which his soul longed. Fortunately he came under the protection of Mr. David Ruggles. the Underground Railroad worker, who gave him shelter and from whose home he sent for his intended wife, ^liss Anna ^lurray, a free woman of Baltimore. They were married by the Rev. J. W. C. Pennington, a noted Presbyterian divine of the day. Frederick Bailey was at that time an expert ship's calker, and upon the advice of friends he at once took his bride to New Bedford where there were many opportunities for plying his trade. Here he found in Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Johnson kind and true friends of his own race. At Mr. Johnson's suggestion he changed the name of Bailey for that of Douglass of which character Mr. Johnson had just been reading in Sir Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake." Douglass selected February 14. 1818, as his birthday. The white workmen threatened to strike if he was employed with them at his trade of calker, so Douglass was forced to earn a liveli- hood at whatever came to hand. In his own words he ''sawed wood, shoveled coal, dug cellars, inoved rubbish from back yards, worked on the wharves, loaded and unloaded vessels and scoured their cabins." His first job in liis free estate was to put away a large pile of coal for the wife of the distinguished ITnitarian min- ister, Rev. Ephraim Peabody. Humble as were these occupations. the newly-freed man worked at them gladly, for his time, his labor, his money were now his own. After this he found a better-paying grade of employment in an oil factory, then in a brass foundry. About this time Douglass was given a copy of the Liberator, the Abolitionist paper of which William Lloyd Garrison was editor, and shortly after this attended a lecture by Garrison at Liberty Hall. Here he heard enunciated for the first time the thoughts and ideals which for years had been surging within him ; naturally his delight was unbounded. In 1839, Edwin Thompson, another noted Abolitionst, traveled through Massachusetts making speeches in the anti-slavery cause. Mr. Douglass was present at one of these meetings held in New Bedford, and some years afterward said that after Garrison it was Thompson who waked him up on the sulyect and by quoting some of Wliittier's poems, inspired him and made him feel, ind -ed. a new man. In 1844, ^Mr. Donghiss was, after mueh begging and pe:sua-ion, induced to rehito to the congregation ( f tlie Rev. 'J'ljomas James — himself an ex-slave — the stoiy of his experience in slavery. This was his first public talk, and though his audience wats small and humble, it is .said he was very nei'vous and ill at ease. This man who was destined to stir the world by his oratoiy, was at first overeome by timidity at the thought of addressing an audience of his o\^^l people. William C. Coffin was present at this meeting. Later at a large anti-slavery ccmvention held in Nantucket I\Ir. Coffin sought Doug- lasG out and prevailed upon him to address the convention. Of this occasion Mr. Douglass says, "It was with the utmost difficulty that I could stand erect or that I could command and articulate two words without hesitation and fetammering. I trembled in every limb. I am not sure that my embarrassment was not the most effective part of my speech, if speech it could be called. JNIr. Gar- rison followed me, taking me as his text. And now, whether I had made an eloquent plea in behalf of freedom or not, his was one never to be forgotten. Those who had heard him oftenest and had known him longest were astonished at his masterly effort." The result of that meeting was that Douglass was employed as a travel- ing agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society to solicit sub- scriptions to the Liberator and the Anti-Slavery Standard. He addressed many large meetings, and as he was brought to realize his possession of the divine gift of oratory, he went from triumph to triumph. Like water seeking its level, he made one acquaintance after another among the enlightened, broadminded. cultured people of Massachusetts; for people of that caliber were the only ones who were capable of appreciating him. He consorted with the noble company who were working for the overthrow of slavery — Wendell Phillips. William Lloyd Garrison, Owen Lovejoy, and many others; and since he realized that the love of freedom is not bounded by sex, he threw his support also to the cause of equal suffrage, and was the friend of such noble women as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia ]\lott. Sojourner Triith, the Grimke sisters, Susan B. Anthony and a host of others. It is interesting to note that about this time, the ''Jim. Crow" ear law was in full force in iNFassachusetts and colored persons were forced to travel in a rough car with hard seats, mueh as in the case in the Southern States today. Those who prote>;ted against this and entered other ears, were thrown off. While the colored people generally accepted this condition, ^W. Douglass had many altercations with conductors and brakenien ; l)ut his own people complained of him as making matters worse instead of better by refusing to submit to this proscription. He, however, persisted and sometimes was soundly beaten. On one occasion, in Lynn, several seats were broken in trying to get him out as he had become "so much attached" to his place. The outcome of that occurence Avas that the Abolitionists took up the fight against the "Jim- Crow" car and did not cease until the abominations were removed from New P^ngland. This brings to mind a story told of .Mr. Douglass and the Jim- Crow cars of the South. It is said that on a. certain occasion he had an engagement to lecture in a southern city and toward the end of his journey was compelled to use the section reserved for colored people, which in this case was an end of a freight car. This, it will easily be under- stood, was particularly obnoxious, and when the delegation which went to meet him saw him in such surroundings they began to apologize that coming to them had caused him to be so humiliated and degraded. Drawing himself up to his full height, the grand old man replied, "Gentlemen, by ignoble actions I may degrade myself, but nothing and no man can degrade Frederick Douglass." Those words should never be forgotten, for the lesson they teach is worthy of imitation by all. Be master of your soul, do nothing that is ignoble and whenever an attempt is made to embarrass or humiliate you, you will be able to treat it with the contempt it deserves. In 1845 Mr. Douglass went to Eui-ope to lecture on slavery ; on the trip over he was not allowed a first cabin berth. As the ship neared her journey's end, the captain gave to the first cabin passen- gers a complimentary dinner, after which some of the passengers, knowing of Douglass' presence on board, desired to hear him speak. As soon as he began a great uproar was started by those who at heart were slaveholders, and there were loud cries of "Kill him." "Throw him overl)oard." and for a time he was in great danger. The captain, however, took his part, and invited those who did not wish to hear Douglass to leave the dining saloon, threatening that if the speaker was again interrupted, every one of the disturbers should be put in irons. Dougla.ss then went on and delivered one of his most telling speeches. Upon his arrival in England his lectur-es upon slavery wer(^ delivered to lai'ge aiuliences and won for himself and for his cause many friends. A ]>urse of $750 was made up by his English friends to purchase his liberty, and he returned to this country a free man. In 1S47 lie ])('^;iii tlu' piililicat ion of a newspaper, "The North Stai'. "" ill Koclif.itcr. X. V., and the pajxT was widely read by h)vers of lil);'ity. Lt I'an several years. While living' in Rochester his little daiiti'litei-. Husetta, apj)lied foi- admission to the public schools, but was denied on account of color. Mr. Douj^huss at once bejijan to fiji'lit the silly i)re.)udice and did not rest until "every door of the j)ublic schools of Jloche.ster not only swung wide open to the admission of his own children, but to every child of every race." ^Ir. Douglass had become an intimate friend of John Brown, and in 1859 a di--ipatch was sent to the sheritt* of Philadeli)hia. where Mr. Douglass was at the time, to arrest him for eomi)lieity in the John Brown raid. The telegraph operator, being a friend of Douglass, held up the dispatch and left his office in search of Douglass' friends, advising them to hurry the latter out of the country. This they did. and the dispatch was not delivered until Douglass was well on the way to Rochester. He reached home in safety, went over into Canada, thence to Europe Avhere he remained until danger was over. At the begininng of the Civil War he returned to this country and helped persuade President Lincoln to arm the Negrees; the colored regiments of Massachusetts were, raised with his active assistance, his sons becoming members of the famous r)4th Massa- chiLsetts Vohmteers. Long after the Civil War Mr. Douglass told the following story of his life to the pupils of a colored school in Talbot County, Mary- land, the county in w^hich he was born : "I once knew a little eolore chartered by Congress in !!)()( I. It was the most ardent desire of Mrs. Douglass' heart that Cedar Hill slioidd l)ecome as dear to the colored ]ieople as is M\. Vernon to
l_/^"--' INDIANA