Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born in Talbot County, in the Eastern Shore of Maryland. As a young child, he was separated from his mother, Harriet Bailey, a slave and raised by his grandmother on a small farm in rural Maryland. He never knew for sure when his birthday was, nor the identity of his father. In his
Narrative, published in 1845, he speculates that his father was also his master. When Douglass was about eight years old, his master, Colonel Lloyd Auld, died and he moved to Baltimore, where he was the servant of Hugh and Sophia Auld for the next seven years or so. This separation, first from his parents, and then from his grandmother when he was introduced to a life of slavery, was a defining moment in his development, as well as his understanding of the brutal and…
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Citation: Zumoff, Jacob. "Frederick Douglass". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 April 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1302, accessed 23 November 2024.]
