Write to the EQ:

 What do you know about your family history? How does this history affect your identity?

Responding to this question will help you consider the importance of the information Douglass presents in chapter 1 of the book.

Locate

this shape on

your graphic

organizer.

Why should you care? Frederick Douglass's Narrative is not just about slavery. It is about that, of course; as a

historical document, it paints a powerful picture of what it was like to be a slave, how the world looked from the bottom, and what kind of place America was when "the land of the free" was only free for white people. But while a lot of books were written by ex-slaves in the 1840s and 1850s, a lot of slave narratives read like documentaries, or worse, like Public Service Announcements. Frederick Douglass's narrative is by far the most important one, because he wants us to think about more than just the legal, historical, and political issues of slavery and freedom. He wants us to think about it as a philosophical question: what does it take for the human spirit to be free?

Douglass wants to show us that he made himself free. Freedom isn't something that's given to us; it's something we each have to find for ourselves. And although Douglass had it a lot harder than most of us ever will, we each have something to learn from his perseverance and courage in search of his own freedom, and his refusal to rest before finding it. One of the hardest lessons Douglass has to learn is that this battle never really stops. As long as anyone is a slave, Douglass knows he himself is not fully free. This is something that we can think about with regard to justice anywhere and anytime: can any of us be fully free if the least of us is oppressed?

Your Task:

Read chapters 1 and 2 in the text.

Use the Cornell Notes sheet to respond to the text. There are very specific questions

from Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

These questions should guide your understanding of the major issues described by Mr. Douglass.

1 2

Key Vocab

SummaryActivate

Read Chapters 1 and 2

1 2 3

What is your task with this document?Say

He doesn’t know his age, just like a horseSlave holders want slaves to be ignorantHis father is white, maybe the masterHe didn’t know his mother well, but she traveled at night to see himChildren of slave women are, by law, slaves themselvesSlave masters father many slave childrenSlave masters often sell their slave children to please the mistressHis first master, Captain Anthony, was not rich and he was cruel as was his overseer Hester went out with Lloyd’s Ned and was brutally beaten for it

ThinkSlave children were taken from their mothers to destroy natural affectionThat his mother must have loved him to risk punishment to travel to see him (inference)The Captain Anthony did not want Hester going out with Lloyd’s Ned because he wanted her for himselfHe will be next to be beaten after Hester

DoNot ask his master his age

Not get to go to his mother’s funeral

See his aunt Hester be brutally whipped

FeelUnhappy and deprived that he doesn’t know his age/birthdayLittle more than if a stranger died when his mother passed awayLike his mother sufferedSlave masters are wicked and lustyLike slavery is hell when he first sees Hester being whippedScared and horror-stricken when he sees Hester being whipped

Let’s Make a Personal Connection to the Text

Frederick Douglass encountered a great deal of struggles and difficulties in his time. We learn of some of these times in Chapters 1 and 2. How can you relate?

When you have difficulties, what things do you do to overcome them?Respond in the Summary Section.