Frederick Douglass was born a slave on a tobacco corn and wheat farm in Talbot County Maryland He was born in February 1818 His mother named him Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey Frederick’s mother was an African-American slave named Harriet Bailey He never knew who his father was but he did know that he was a white man Some people said he was Captain Aaron Anthony Frederick’s first owner
Soon after Frederick was born he was taken to live with his grandmother Betsey Bailey He only saw his mother four or five times after that She had to walk twelve miles at night to see her son and walk twelve miles back to be at work by sunrise If she was late she would be whipped He wrote later She would lie down with me and get me to sleep but long before I waked she was gone She died when Frederick was about seven years old
When Frederick was six he was taken to his master’s house and put to work He wrote later about how he lived as a slave In the hottest summer and coldest winter winter I was kept almost naked no shoes no stockings no jacket no trousers nothing on but a coarse tow linen shirt reaching only to my knees He was fed boiled cornmeal cornmeal called mush
Frederick was wakened often by the cries of a slave being beaten The first time that happened it was his own aunt Hester who was tied to a hook and whipped Young Frederick was so frightened that he ran into a closet and hid
