Story of the Life of Frederick Douglass: The Power of Reading On Southern plantations before the Civil War, slaves were forbidden to read or write. In other words, they were forced into ignorance and locked in mental darkness. In A Tale of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he writes in depth about his life as a slave on these plantations. After learning his ABCs and learning to write three- or four-letter words from Mrs. Auld, Frederick Douglass illustrates how he secretly taught himself to read and write using various strategies such as: Learning the letters on the lumber on Durgin's ship and Bailey yard, taking lessons from the white boys he met on the street, from Webster's spelling book, and from Master Thomas's notebook. Frederick Douglass also illustrates how he ran his Sabboth School, teaching other slaves to read and write. Learning to read and write provided Frederick Douglass with the power to free himself from physical and intellectual slavery. Frederick Douglass's first step towards reading was his kind lover, Mrs. Auld, who taught him the ABCs. Then she helped him learn to write little words. It was at this point that Frederick Douglass' teacher, Mr. Auld, realized that his wife had taught Douglass to read. Mr. Auld refused to allow Mrs. Auld to continue teaching Frederick Douglass, stating that: "If you teach that negro to read, there would be no way to keep him. He would be forever unfit to be a slave. He would become forever unmanageable ". and of no value to his master" (47). Little did Mr. Auld know, he had accidentally taught Frederick Douglass an invaluable lesson because Frederick Douglass had overheard this conversation between Mr. and Mrs.... . half of paper ...... that many slaves had learned to read and that at least one of his students is now a free man. On September 3, 1838, Frederick Douglass escaped a life of physical and intellectual slavery says how he escaped, as he believes this would only benefit the slave owners, mentions that he ended up in New York and from there moved to New Bedford with his new wife, Anna After working at various manual labor, Frederick Douglass used his intelligence and past experiences to speak at the anti-slavery convention in Nantucken on August 11, 1841. He went from learning letters on lumber, to using Webster's spelling book, to using the spelling book of his master Thomas. notebook to write three autobiographies, became secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission, marshal and recorder of deeds in the District of Columbia, and U.S. minister to Haiti.