Slavery Anna Murray Douglass
Not to long after becoming literate by the age of twelve, he tried to read as much as possible. He would read newspapers, political writings, and various works of literature as much as possible. This was the start of his life of an abolitionist. Hugh Auld hired out Douglass to a man by the name of William Freeland. While there he would have regular meetings with the slaves and he would teach them how to read the new testament during church meetings. These meetings were so popular that up to 40 slaves a week would attend. But sadly, as slaves were not allowed to read and write, other slave owners heard about his shenanigans, they armed with clubs disbanded the meetings forever. This Upset Thomas Auld (Hugh's father) who then sent Douglass to Edward Covey. Edward Covey was an extremely brutal slave "breaker". Douglass even described Covey abilities "first rate hand at breaking young negroes". Adept at breaking slaves down, Covey almost succeeded. Frederick, after almost losing hope, got into a fist fight with Covey and won. Covey never beat him again.
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When Douglass was 18 he planned his first escape attempt which resulted in a failure and some jail time. He was then shipped back to the Auld's residence where he would try again at the age of 20. He was assisted by a woman named Anna Murray. On September 3rd 1838, Murray gave Douglass a passport of a free black sailor and some of her savings which he would use to born a train from Baltimore to New York City to see the abolitionist David Ruggles. After his arrival in New York he immediate sent for Anna to come to New York so they could be wed. They married on September 15, 1838 under the name of Johnson so that Frederick could not be captured. It wasn't until they Settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts that they would take Douglass as their married name.
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