Frederick Douglass Adversity

Gavin Lovel
Mrs. Korando
American Literature
Feb 1, 2023
How Frederick Douglass Faced and Overcame Adversity “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”(Medrut). A quote from Frederick Douglass. A man, who without question, faced adversity and hardship. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in around 1818. Frederick himself didn't know the exact date of his birth. He lived on a plantation in Talbot county, Maryland with his mother, Harriet Bailey, and his father rumored to be Aaron Anthony. His time in Talbot county was short-lived, for he was separated from his mother as an infant and sent to Baltimore Maryland. He worked in the house of Hugh Auld, a shipbuilder. During his time there, Hugh’s wife Sophia helped Frederick learn to

His first was a confrontation with Covey. Before Covey could whip him, Frederick grabbed him by the neck. This started a fight that would last for 2 hours. The text reads,” After losing a physical confrontation with Douglass, Covey never beat him again.”(“Frederick Douglass.” Biography). This shows that Covey finally decided not to mess with Frederick ever again. After some time had passed, Frederick tried to escape 2 times before finally being successful. The text reads,” He escaped in September 1838 by dressing as a sailor and traveling from Baltimore to Wilmington, Delaware, by train, then on to Philadelphia by steamboat, and from there to New York City by train.”(Trent). This showing that he was successful after many attempts to finally escape

Even after slavery was abolished in 1865, people of color weren’t treated the same. For a long time, they were segregated. Different schools, restaurants, and even drinking fountains. In Frederick’s famous speech “The Race Problem”, he says,”...by representing the negro as an ignorant, base, and dangerous person, and by presenting to those enemies that his existence to them is a dreadful problem.”(Douglass). This showing how the white community painted an African American to be in order for the public to go with their ideologies. For the most part, it worked. This didn’t stop