Appendixes

Appendix A. Reader Responses, 1855-56

The following are contemporary published reviews of Bondage and Freedom located by the editors. Those lengthy passages excerpted from Bondage and Freedom have been abridged. Deleted passages are indicated by ellipses and by bracketed notations of their page and line numbers in both the Yale edition and the 1855 copy-text. Some reader responses could be found only in Douglass's own newspaper.

LIFE IN BONDAGE AND FREEDOM. [Anon.] New York Daily Tribune, 15 August 1855. Excerpt reprinted in FDP, 21 September 1855; New York Radical Abolitionist, 2:3 (November 1856) Supplement.

If success in life is any criterion of ability, Frederick Douglass has fairly won his claim to the title of an uncommonly able man. He has overcome obstacles which no one in his position has ever before been called to encounter. Doomed by his birth to bondage, ignorance, and degradation, he has literally broken the fetters of Slavery, secured his place as an equal in the ranks of freemen, attained distinction as a writer, public speaker, and member of an intellectual profession, and gained possession of an influence which he has nobly exerted in behalf of human rights. The life of such a person belongs to history. The truthful narrative of its events must be full of instruction as well as of exciting interest. Confined to plain matters of fact, without the embellishments of fancy, it would present a study equally significant to the philanthropist and the student of human nature. The author has wisely taken this view of the subject, and endeavored to give merely a literal transcript of his past experience. He claims that there is not a fictitious name or place in the whole volume, and that every transaction occurred as therein described. We know no reason to mistrust the accuracy of this statement. His story reads like an "o'er true tale." It exhibits all the natural marks of probability. Nothing is related to which a parallel may not be discovered in other veracious accounts of Southern life. At the same time the startling revelations which abound in his volume, give it the glow and often the pathos of a high-wrought fiction.

Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, a barren, famine-stricken, and unhealthy district on the eastern shore of Maryland. Like other slaves he is ignorant of his age, though from certain events, the dates of which have come to his knowledge, he supposes that his birth took place about the year 1817. His earliest remembrances were of the family of his grandmother and grandfather. They were advanced in life, and had long lived on the spot where they then resided. His old grandmother was a distinguished personage among the blacks, and was even held by the whites in un-

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usually high esteem. She was a good nurse, a capital hand at making nets for shad and herring, and a successful amateur in the cultivation of sweet potatoes. In this way she became a universal favorite, and received so many presents that she enjoyed a certain degree of luxury. Her dwelling was a log hut, built of clay, wood, and straw. The possession of a separate cabin was a privilege of negro aristocracy, accorded either to her faithful services or her infirm old age. Living thus with the happy old couple, it was a long time before Frederick discovered that he was a slave. The inevitable fact dawned upon his mind by degrees, and he learned the existence of a mysterious individual who bore the ominous title of “old master.” This was the chief clerk and butler on the home-plantation of Col. Lloyd, owning himself several farms in Tuckahoe. Col. Lloyd's plantation was situated on the Wye River, some twelve miles from Tuckahoe. Frederick's first experience of Slavery was his removal from the cabin of his grandmother to the house of “old master,” on the great baronial domain of Col. Lloyd. This was a long brick building, plain, but substantial, standing in the center of plantation life, and constituting an independent establishment on the premises of the lordly proprietor. The plantation was dotted over with dwellings of various sizes, occupying every nook and corner not devoted to cultivation. Beside these there were barns, stables, storehouses, and tobacco-houses, blacksmiths' shops, wheelwrights' shops, coopers’ shops, and all the appurtenances of industry on a large scale. The “Great House” in which lived Col. Lloyd and his family, was the object of wonder to all eyes. “It was surrounded by numerous . . . [39.38-40.23/66.32-68.4] . . . of their wild, warbling notes.”

These all belonged to the young slave boy, as well as to Col. Lloyd, and for a time were a source of great enjoyment to him. The business of twenty or thirty farms, all belonging to Col. Lloyd, was transacted at the “great house farm.” Each farm was under the management of an overseer. Col Lloyd was reported at that time to be very rich. His slaves, numbering not less than one thousand, were an immense fortune in themselves. One or more lots of these were sold almost every month to the Georgia traders, but without making any apparent diminution of the stock. Horseshoeing, cart-mending, coopering, grinding and weaving for all the neighboring farms were performed here by the slaves. “Uncle Tony” was the “boss” blacksmith—Uncle Harry, the cartwright—Uncle Abel, the shoemaker—and all had hands to assist them in their several departments.

Among other slave notabilities of the plantation was an old fellow called by everybody Uncle Isaac Copper. The surname was a special distinction, as the slave very seldom gets one of any kind at the South. According to Douglass, negroes fare but little better in that respect among the Northern Abolitionists, who rarely give a surname to their colored proteges. "The only improvement on the "Bills," "Jacks," "Jims" and "Neds" of the South observable here is that "William," "John," "James," "Edward," are substituted.

But now and then as in case of Uncle Isaac Copper, a slave gets a surname fastened to him, and holds it in spite of conventional etiquette. This negro was some-

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times dubbed also with the epithet "doctor," being a distinguished light both in the professions of medicine and divinity. Where he took his degree remains a mystery to this day, but he was too eminent in his vocation to permit a question either as to his attainments or his native skill. "One qualification he undoubtedly had— . . . [42.13-20/71.3-13] . . . Lord’s Prayer, and hickory switches!” The Doctor was schoolmaster, it seems, in addition to his other learned functions. Here is a specimen of the manner in which he trained the tender minds of his charge:

I was not long at . . . [42.21-43.3/71.14-72.13] . . . again would come the lash.

With regard to the physical condition of the slaves, Mr. Douglass’s experience contradicts the frequent belief that they are better off than the peasantry of any country in the world.

The men and the women . . . [59.3-61.28/100.17-105.3] . . . so comes and goes another.

In contrast with the squalid poverty of the slaves, we have a glowing picture of the wealth and luxury which are at the foundation of the widely celebrated hospitality of the South.

The close-fisted stinginess that . . . [62.25-64.33/107.12-111.7] . . . dazzle and charm was done.

But the glitter of the surface must not be taken as an evidence of the satisfaction which prevailed within the interior of the domicile.

I had excellent opportunities of . . . [65.17-66.38/112.8-114.29] . . . kneel to receive a whipping.

Upon the coming of a new overseer to the plantation, such acts of atrocity were committed as led Mr. Douglass to suspend his personal narrative for a "chapter of horrors.” We give a single specimen:

The name of the new . . . [69.20-71.24/119.15-123.2] . . . place where he had stood.

As to his own personal condition, while yet a boy, take the following description:

As I have before intimated . . . [76.16-77.6/132.4-133.15] . . . was sure to whip me.

At ten years of age young Frederick was sent from Col. Lloyd's plantation to Baltimore, having been presented by “old master" to a family of his relatives in that city. This Mr. Douglass regards as one of the most fortunate events of his life. He escaped the rigors of Slavery before his spirit had been crushed by the iron rule of the slaveholder. So important was the influence of this step on his future life that he

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regards it "as a special interposition of Divine Providence in his favor." "This thought," says he, "is a part of my . . . [80.30-38/139.23-140.5] . . . I offer thanksgiving and praise."

During the first part of his Baltimore life he was treated with comparative kindness, his external condition was comfortable, and after many difficulties he succeeded in learning the art and mystery of reading and writing. At length knowledge brings discontent. He was no longer the same light-hearted, gleesome boy,full of mirth and play, as when he first landed at Baltimore. He often wished himself a beast or a bird rather than a slave. He became wretched and gloomy beyond description. He was too thoughtful to be happy, and soon the burden of bondage became intolerable to his spirit. After many vicissitudes, including change of master and residence, which are here related with thrilling effect, Douglass determines to make a bold push for freedom. His first attempt was not successful. At a subsequent period he accomplished his purpose, and after overcoming incredible difficulties, makes his way to the Free States. This was in the year 1838. A full account is given of his first experience as a free man, and the successive steps by which he has reached his present distinguished position. Although the volume naturally declines in interest after the escape of the author from the house of bondage, it cannot fail to be read with avidity as one of the most striking illustrations of American Slavery which either fact or fiction has presented to the public. It abounds in scenes of breathless excitement, often curdling the blood with horror, and revealing the miseries of servile life with an intense vividness scarcely surpassed by the most impressive descriptions of recent popular romance.

MY BONDAGE AND MY FREEDOM. [Anon.]. Utica Morning Herald, 16 August 1855. Excerpt reprinted in FDP, 21 September 1855.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS is a remarkable man.—Born in slavery, winning his own liberty, and entering upon responsibilities of life in freedom about the time he attained his majority, he has been petted by many of wealth and intelligence, and has given evidence of a mind of rare vigor and comprehensiveness. As a writer and speaker, he ranks with the most effective and natural, after our master authors and orators. The life of such a man is important in these days, and has not a little bearing on slavery and its future. This book is written forcibly and neatly, and to those who are not altogether weary with all topics relating to slavery, will be quite interesting. The details of the author's personal experience as a slave, are suggestive of the possible character in freedom of the beings now held as chattels.

A good likeness of DOUGLASS, and engravings showing the contrast between the North and the South are given, and the volume is handsomely issued.

NEW PUBLICATION. [Anon.]. Buffalo Morning Express and Daily Democracy, 17 August 1855. Excerpt reprinted in FDP, 21 September 1855.

This work relates to the history of a remarkable man, who has lived twenty-

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one years a slave and seventeen years a free man, and even under the adverse circumstances of color and condition, now stands out in the world as one of the brightest and best cultivated intellects of the age. FREDERICK DOUGLASS, as a speaker and writer, has few superiors for eloquence, powers of description and vigor of thought in this or any other country.

MY BONDAGE AND MY FREEDOM, as a work of intrinsic merit, speaks volumes in praise of the man, his intellect and culture. The incidents of his life, woven up in the web of narrative by his polished and classical mind and graceful pen, are full of interest, and command the admiration while they excite the astonishment of the reader. Slavery and Freedom, in all their length and breadth, are discussed and contrasted in this work with a power that must convict the dullest apprehension of the degenerating influence of the one and the elevating effects of the other. For sale by WANZER, McKIM & Co.

NEW BOOK. [Anon.]. Daily Ohio State Journal, 18 August 1855. Excerpt reprinted in FDP, 21 September 1855: New York Radical Abolitionist, 2:3 (November 1856) Supplement.

We have received from the publishers, Messrs. Miller, Orton & Mulligan, New-York, the new book of FREDERICK DOUGLASS, entitled "My Bondage and My Freedom," in two parts, the first embracing his Life as a Slave, the second part his Life as a Freeman, with an introduction by Dr. James M'Cune Smith.

We predict for this book a wide circulation. It is a plain narrative of the experience of the writer, written in a clear and impressive style: and having been written by a man whose life to early manhood was spent in actual bondage will of itself secure for it a general perusal. We venture to say, speaking from our own experience, notwithstanding our pretty full acquaintance with the subject, that few will take it up without going through with it, at least the first part.

The reader will find in the narrative a series of facts, detailed from personal experience, which will rivet his attention and lead him on from page to page. We know what Slavery is in the abstract, but here we have it in reliable detail. Take the following account of his personal condition in boyhood:

"As I have before intimated . . . [76.16-77.6/132.4-133.15] . . . was sure to whip me."

Such detail brings reflection. And the writer goes on with his hard experiences through his slave life, giving facts and incidents of engrossing and thrilling interest. We pause as we read, and ask can these things be so? We have before listened to the homely tale of the liberated slave, but it did not impress us as does this narrative of Douglass, for the reason that we were left to supply the commentary which is here pressed upon us by one who has both seen and felt what he relates. The story bears throughout the impress of truth, and the manner in which it is told stamps the