Darcy Greer WRA 195H Dr. Charnley April 19, 2013 Variance in the Life of Slaves During the 1800 s, slaves were part of everyday life for many Americans. They were the labor for large plantations in the South, as well as for smaller companies in the North. Because of the different owner s views towards treatment of their slaves, as well as how large the area they were working was, the treatment and slaves greatly differed throughout the country. Frederick Douglass, originally Frederick Bailey lived his a life as a slave in the South and the North, as well as with many different masters. Aunt Harriet Smith of Hempstead, Texas was a slave her entire life in Texas. The lives of these two slaves, Frederick Douglass and Aunt Harriet Smith, were similar in some aspects, but greatly differed as well. Both Frederick Douglass and Harriet Smith didn t know much about themselves. Neither knew when they were born. In her interview, Smith can pin point a time when she thinks she was thirteen. Douglass searched for an accurate date, but had no knowledge because there was no authentic record containing it. He went on to say in the opening page of his book that by far the largest part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horse know of theirs to keep their slaves thus ignorant (Douglass 47). According to Frederick Douglass: When the Lion Wrote History, Douglass had an obsession with searching for an accurate date of his birth and what he found was around February of 1818. In Smith s interview, she only mentions the death of her mom, but
Greer 2 later talks about seeing her ma and pa dance together, showing she did know who her father was (Smith Interview 1941). This was not the case with Douglass, though there were rumors that his father was likely his master, Captain Anthony. His mother would never reveal the identity of his father to him before her death when Douglass was nine (Frederick Douglass) When learning about both Frederick Douglass s and Aunt Harriet Smith s lives, neither one lived a very hard one compared to the what most would consider the epitome of slavery. In her interview with John Henry Faulk, Harriet Smith talks about how the family she was owned by, the B. s, was good to us they never whipped none of their colored people, our colored people (Smith Interview 1941). In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass talks about how the plantation that he grew up on was called the Great House Farm, since it was similar to a small village (Douglass 56). Also, until Frederick Douglass went to see Covey for his breaking, he had never been made to do the physical labor that is so hard on many slaves. Though he was whipped before being sent to Covey, it was never very much, especially compared to the other people on the Great House Farm (Douglass 102). Douglass s plantation life was not bad at all for a slave, and the only time he wasn t treated well was when he was sent to Covey. While enslaved, Frederick Douglass was able to learn through reading and writing, where as Harriet Smith was not. In her interview, Harriet Smith states that they did not teach her to read or write and that they had no school at all. She went on to say that all they were taught was to mind your master and your mistress (Smith Interview 1941). On the contrary, Douglass did have the opportunity to learn to read and write, which helped him become so involved in the abolitionist movement later on in his life. When Douglass was sent to Baltimore, he learned to
Greer 3 read and write there. Sophia Auld, the wife of his new master, treated Douglass as a child, according to Frederick Douglass: When the Lion wrote History for the first year they lived there. This continued until Hugh Auld ordered her to stop because education made slaves unmanageable. He still continues to teach himself to read and write through the help of other local boys in Baltimore and was able to read by the age of 12. Douglass s reading is what educates him about slavery and all the negative things about it, as well as abolitionists. After he learns about all of what was going on with slavery, Douglass makes a vow to escape to the North eventually. Both Smith and Douglass have mention of singing among the slaves. Smith mentions that in the colored church they would sing Are We Born to Die? as well as sing the Old One Hundreds. (Smith Interview 1941) Douglass talked about how when on the way to the Great House Farm, slaves usually sang both happy and sad songs. (Douglass 57) At the time he said he didn t know the meaning behind them, but now realizes that they are a bitter complaint about slavery. Both of the two s recollections about the songs that their fellow slaves songs were both about songs that described the freedom they wanted and hinted at the evil of slavery. When interviewed, Harriet Smith mentions a lot about her and other slaves attendance to Church, though Douglass doesn t mention that as much, if at all throughout The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, nor was it mentioned in Frederick Douglass: When the Lion Wrote History. Harriet Smith talks about how during slavery times, they had prayer meeting from one house to another (Smith Interview 1941). Sometimes they even went to the white folks church the white folks would have church in the morning, then they d let the colored people have church at their church in the evening. Smith also talked about how the preachers during
Greer 4 that time period weren t very educated as they are now. They would tell you about how to get along and how to treat white people and then just read the Bible. The preacher also just told them to be good to your master and mistress. The children didn t always go to church during slavery time. Smith says she didn t go to church or really know much about it until long after she got married. With Harriet Smith and Frederick Douglass, how they ended up free was very different. Because Harriet Smith was a slave during a later time period, and she talks of a break-up in her interview, it can be assumed that she was eventually just freed due to the end of slavery. This was not the case with Frederick Douglass. After being passed around multiple times, Douglass ended up back in Baltimore with Hugh Auld, to learn ship caulking. Douglass was able to get permission from Auld to hire out during the extra time he had. Using this money that he saved from working, he was able to escape from Baltimore to New York making himself virtually free. In The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, not much of his escape is described due to the fact that he didn t want to ruin the chance or safety of other slaves who may attempt to escape using the same way. Out of fear, this is when Douglass changed his name from Frederick Bailey to Frederick Douglass (Douglass 147). After being freed slaves, both Harriet Smith and Frederick Douglass eventually became married. Harriet Smith says she was around seventeen or eighteen, maybe younger. She married a freed slave from Blanco, who was freed around the same time her, during the break-up, who she calls J.S. Once Frederick Douglass escaped to New York, he writes to his fiancée Anna Murray, a freed slave, who was still back in Boston and she eventually joined Douglass in New York where they married (Douglass 145).
Greer 5 Analyzing both Frederick Douglass and Harriet Smith s lives as slaves showed that though slaves may have some similarities with what they experienced, they all truly did live different lives. Douglass and Smith both weren t very knowledgeable about their past, both were treated well, both mentioned that singing was common among slaves, and both ended up marrying after they were freed. Though they had these similarities, the rest of their lives were so different from each other. Douglass was able to learn how to read, where as Smith was not. Smith attended prayer groups and church with other colored people, and Douglass did not. Smith was granted her freedom, when Douglass had to work very hard and eventually escape for his. Overall, the lives of Harriet Smith and Frederick Douglass were similar in a few aspects, but they mostly lived extremely different lives as slaves during the 1800 s in America.
Greer 6 Work Cited Page Douglass, Frederick, and Houston A. Baker. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1982. Print. Frederick Douglass: When the Lion Wrote History. Dir. Orlando Bagwell. 1944. VHS. Smith, Harriet. Interview with Aunt Harriet Smith, Hempstead, Texas, 1941. Interview by John Henry Faulk. American Memory. Library Congress. Web. 19 April 2013.