Frederick Douglass' Autobiography

     So I thought I'd end my blog with a few words on Douglass' autobiography.  In high school I read Uncle Tom's Cabin and learned a decent amount about slavery, but I think this autobiography is the best way to experience what slaves went through and what their reality was actually like.  A lot of his experiences were really sad and made me think about how a lot of these people grew up- seeing their mom get whipped to pieces, never seeing your mom in the light of day, and being excited because you get to wear your first pair of pants when you're like 7 years old?  It's just so incredibly inhumane and appalling to hear how people's lives were in our country.  It was also interesting to read about how Douglass believed slavery affected his master's wife Mrs. Auld in Baltimore.  I hadn't really thought about how slavery could affect the people utilizing it and owning slaves.  The fact that her husband was so upset by her teaching Frederick how to read really affected her personality and they way she lived from then on.  Her temperment completely changed and she let the whole idea and institution of slavery change her perspective on life.  She immediately felt like she had to treat him differently and view education as a tool that could be used against her.  I felt that it was really sad both for her and Douglass to be affected this way only because of how her husband viewed slaves and education and the fact that he voiced this very clearly to his wife.