Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey and the Issue of Literacy

Literacy- The Path Trough Adversity
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born a slave on February of 1818, on a plantation house in Maryland (Blight). He later changed his name to Frederick Douglas (A&E video). His mothers name was Harriet Augustus, but Douglas did not know much about his father. Frederick separated himself from other slaves in that he learned how to read. He used Tommy Auld's spelling book to memorize the letters of the alphabet. Frederick also received help from his master's wife Sophia (A&E video). Unfortunately, when his master found out about his wife's teaching of a slave, he put an immediate end to it, stating that teaching slave was "unlawful, as well as unsafe" (Douglas 128). Still Frederick persisted and eventually fled to New England where slavery was illegal. There Frederick wrote about his life as a slave and grew to become a great orator. He died at age 78. …