Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Dover Thrift Editions: Black History) Paperback – Unabridged, August 1, 2016

I’m starting this review before I’ve finished the book. I’m only like thirty pages in, really. But I feel grateful to be able to read more of what Douglass has to say. I believe that he is telling his truth and that makes for beautiful, if heartbreaking, reading. For the record (and the persistent Hypothetical Reader), it is almost 3:00 AM on January 18, 2020. It’s fitting that I’m turning to a book now. To help calm me down and get me to sleep. Douglass’ prose is complicated, so I know eventually I’ll be exhausted to sleep. And though I am generally grateful to books, this autobiography is the one I am reading at the moment, and, therefore, the one I am going to credit.I just took 2 Tyelenol PM It’s 3:45 AM. (Does anyone find this interesting? (That’s rhetorical.)) January 28, 2020. Fredrick Douglass’s writing is too compelling and my mind is racing too quickly from the emotional evening I’ve had. I am determined to read the same paragraph again and again until I understand it without my mind wandering. It took me like 10 tries. Each time I caught myself obsessing over phrases or questions to answer or books to write. I restarted the paragraph. I reminded myself that it is alright to think about it; that doesn’t make me a person who is incapable of loving and being loved; it just means that I have thoughts and emotions; but I’m trying to sleep. And then, when I realize I’m lost in ruminations, I’d start reading the paragraph over again because my mind had wandered. Don’t worry, not all my reviews will be this minutely autobiographical. I just feel compelled to bottle lightening or whatever magic it was that left me a bawling mess of emotions earlier this (last?) evening. But then I remind myself that these are just thoughts and these sentences are just words. And that doesn’t make them good or bad--by extension, that doesn’t make me good or bad--it just means they are words. (I have to stop using the word “just”; and also stop commenting about punctuation and word usage and grammar.) But those are just thoughts, too, and just more words to think about excising later. Because right now, I’m going to smile myself to sleep and keep reading that same paragraph again and again until I drift off or understand (or at least make some conscious semblance of sense from) what is being communicated.One last thing to mention. This should be parenthetical, but it’s not. Let’s not get caught in the weeds here. I want to mention mental health. I dedicated my last book reviews to those in my life who encouraged my reading; I dedicate this book to those who have encouraged and walked alongside me and allowed me to walk alongside of them in their mental health and (I’ll even go so far as to say) spiritual journeys. Goodnight my beloved people and words and books. I hope when I wake up, I’ll be awake.(Sometimes it just doesn’t matter if it’s real or not, fact or fiction. I can just experience the things I’m experiencing right now: Freedom.) That’s not a concept with which Frederick Douglass or any slave was familiar. Or, I mean, Douglass was able to see through the veneer of other people’s impositions to see his (and other slaves’ and masters’) real humanity and to be bold enough to share it. His writing is honest and therefore incredible. I believe what he writes and what he is saying.It’s January 26, now. I’ve finally been able to finish the book and make it through a hectic week. Frederick Douglass’ autobiographical narrative has been a friendly, somehow comforting, companion. Of course, history has proven that there are inaccuracies and mistakes and exaggerations for literary impact. This does not diminish from the incredible document which so clearly traces Douglass’ subjective experience through slavery to freedom.As I read I underlined and commented in the margins. Here are a few observations and quotes:“Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears” (9). I had never considered this interpretation before.Douglass’ is repulsed by slaveowners who profess Christianity and yet own and abuse slaves. Commenting on one of his masters, Douglass writes: “Prior to his conversion, he relied upon his own depravity to shield and sustain him in his savage barbarity; but after his conversation, he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty” (32). This hypocrisy personally offensive to the author, though I could not easily discern from this book whether he would identify as a Christian himself.Chapter IX is a gut punch and ought to be required reading (fortunately for me, this is the chapter I read again and again as I tried to quell my manic thoughts and get to sleep). This chapter explores the ingrained evil that was simply viewed as convention by slave owners. Douglass verbally eviscerates his cruel masters and insightful comments on their hypocrisy and twisted character. He tells the story of terrible abuse even toward physically disabled slaves. Also of note, Douglass is careful to assert that these are facts rather than simple feelings or opinions.As his intellect developed, Douglass’ slavery grew more galling. After standing up to yet another abusive master, Douglass writes, “I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact” (43).Douglass uncovers a number of subtle (and not so subtle) manipulation tactics used by slave owners to keep their slaves properly cowed and powerless. Douglass’ insight is astounding and nuanced and devastating as the truth of his firsthand experience rings out in every chapter.The book concludes immediately after Douglass seizes his freedom, telling us nothing of his ongoing ascendance. Written in his late 20’s, one must look to Douglass’ other two autobiographies to hear more of the story. Though at times, he may be a big self-indulgent and strongly opiniated, who can blame him for taking such liberties? This book is worth reading, pondering, and feeling as the oppression of slavery is explored and the indominability of Frederick Douglass is made evident.A-

This is a must read. MUST. I deeply appreciate first-hand accounts of history. This book was so impactful that I annotated all through it. Please read it!

It is never easy reading about the type of fear, brutality, and oppression most slaves experienced as Frederick Douglass describes with his personal accounts. No matter what type of book I read about the history of enslaved people everywhere, the brutal accounts are the same and I wonder how the absence of compassion and humanity can let a person sleep in peace and without guilt when they cast such cruelty on another human being with hearts of stone. Yet, so many of these slaveowners resoundingly proclaim that they are Christians.Frederick Douglass had no accurate knowledge of his age because it was the wish of most masters, within his knowledge, to keep their slaves ignorant. He never recalls meeting a slave who could tell of their birthday. Douglass was separated as an infant from his mother, but this was not an uncommon occurrence to part children from their mothers at a very early age. The name given to him by his mother was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. He bore many surnames like Stanley and Johnson before he chose to use Douglass as his name after he became a free man."Slaves, when inquired of their condition and character of their masters, almost universally say they are contented, and that their masters are kind. The masters had been known to send in spies among their slaves to ascertain their views and feelings in regard to their condition," according to Douglass. A still tongue makes a wise head. Such practices were part of the dehumanizing character of slavery, just like the belief that education and slavery were incompatible with each other. The determination to read and learn was blasphemous in the eyes of the slavemaster and his household.Douglass sought freedom and while his attempts seemed futile, he eventually was successful at escape. He married Anna Murray and they began their lives in New Bedford. Due to the sensitivity of disclosing how he escaped to freedom, Douglass does not lay out how he did it because he knew slavemasters would read this narrative and foil any attempt of their slaves running away to seek freedom.He attended anti-slavery meetings but while attending an anti-slavery convention at Nantucket in 1841, he felt strongly to speak, when all before he was reluctant to do so. From this point, he became engaged in pleading the cause of his brethren in bonds, and to shed light on the American slave system as he faithfully relied upon the power of truth, love, and justice for success in his humble efforts.Yes, this is a short read and another good, personal, and emotional history-empowered book I highly recommend.