Note: click here for the introduction and first chapter.
Chapter 2: Rural Enslavement
"I suffered more anxiety than most of my fellow-slaves. I had known what it was to be kindly treated; they had known nothing of the kind. They had seen little or nothing of the world. They were in very deed men and women of sorrow, and acquainted with grief. Their backs had been made familiar with the bloody lash, so that they had become callous; mine was yet tender."1 - Frederick Douglass
While enslavement was always unjust and cruel, life for those enslaved in the countryside tended to be worse than for those in cities. Frederick experienced this change upon moving to a plantation, where the work was grueling and the punishments frequent and severe. Whippings became a regular part of his life.
Frederick resisted the treatment, which led his owner, Thomas Auld, to send him to the farm of Edward Covey, who was known for his ruthless methods and had a reputation for breaking the will of even the most defiant enslaved people. The intent was clear: Thomas hoped Edward's harsh and unrelenting rule would strip Frederick of his rebellious spirit and force him into submission.
In his new home, a place he would refer to as the "tyrant's home,"2 sixteen-year-old Frederick suffered immensely. The change bore heavily on him. He would write about his feelings then, "The dark night of slavery closed upon me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!"3
What happened next would forever change Frederick's life. After taking yet another beating one day, Frederick left the farm and walked, bloodied and bruised, to the residence of his original owner, where he begged to be taken back. Thomas, who would lose money if he did so, refused to intervene and sent Frederick back to Edward.
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