Questions I Would Like to Ask a Slave as Answered by Frederick Douglass

1.     Have you ever wanted to be educated?

a.    Yes. Frederick Douglass ran a ‘Sabbath School’ to educate the slaves on his plantation.

2.    Have you ever imagined freedom?

a.    Yes. The songs they sang (the ones that were off- key and lacking direction) were the songs of the imagination of liberation.

3.    What is it like to be treated as less than you know that you’re worth?

a.    Horrible. “I have seen a pious man beat a young woman, justifying his actions with a verse from the Bible.”- Frederick Douglass

4.    What measures would you go to for freedom?

a.    Slaves ran, followed people, would even be bribed

How else would I find the answers to the questions?

1.     Maybe by re- reading the text (and really, really looking for something)

2.    Reading the works of other slaves- turned- freedmen. (Surely, someone had something good. Harriet Tubman was illiterate, but, she must have known literate people who could write down things for her. There MUST be more than just this ONE primary resource.)

3.