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Dec 30, 2018IndyPL_SteveB rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
If you think you understand American slavery and you haven’t read this book, you’re missing a large chunk of knowledge. This is a classic book that should be read by every American, because the legacy of the South’s “Peculiar Institution” is still with us in the hate and prejudice of today’s American culture. It’s not difficult to read but it is full of emotional power. In this book, Douglass describes the torturous conditions of life on a Maryland plantation where he was born a slave, where beatings, rape, and execution were common, and where fear and mental dullness were the daily norm. When he was seven years old, young Frederick was sold to a couple in Baltimore. Young Frederick became obsessed with learning to read, an ability he subsequently gained by trading food from his master’s house for knowledge from poor white boys in the neighborhood. After several years in relative peace in Baltimore, his master died and he was returned to one of the most inhumane Maryland plantations as a field worker. After surviving two years of this, he was fortunate to be returned to Baltimore, from which he escaped to New York in 1838. He eventually became one of the most powerful voices in the American movement to abolish slavery, which led to the American Civil War.