“I was one year old; mother was made to separate from me”; (Feb. 15, 2010)
“Mother died when I reached 7 of age, or around that. I don’t know when I was born: date of birth of slaves was never recorded; slaves were told they were born during periods of sawing, reaping, gathering cherries, or extraordinary events. Horses too had no birth certificates: it drove me mad because everyone knew my father was the white master of the plantation. Masters had win-win situations: they sent black slave mothers to another remote plantation after caring for the child for a year; then, worn out female slaves would bring up the kids instead for mothers.
Mother used to walk over 10 miles at night to see me occasionally. When I wake up she was long gone: she is to be whipped if she shows up at the remote plantation late to work. I think that I saw mother 5 times in her short life; and only at night.” (Memories of a slave, 1846)
Frederick Douglas (1818-1895) was born in Maryland (Talbot County, USA) and fled the plantation in 1838 to the northern states after forging a safe exit conduct. He became a brilliant orator within the abolitionist movement and gave conferences in England. Douglas was officially freed in 1846 and was close to President Abraham Lincoln. Douglas convinced Lincoln to enroll blacks in the Federal army during the civil war. Douglas was appointed president of the Bank of Freed Slaves, then consul in Haiti.
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