Listen to this passage as you read! (Roll over the questions to see the answers) Since this was written by Douglass himself, what kind of a book is it: a biography or an autobiography? How does this affect the way you think about the information you read here? What audience do you think Douglass had in mind as he wrote? What evidence can you find on this page for your opinion? According to law, authors who hold the copyright of a text (as Douglass does to this book) have to send copies of the work to the Library of Congress. “Habitable” means suitable to live on; Douglass may have used this word to mean the places where people lived. As a slave, how did Douglass think about the sails from the boats he saw on the Bay? Douglass uses the word “apostrophe” to mean that he is going to talk to an imaginary thing as if it were a person. He is not talking about punctuation. Here, he is talking to the ships he sees on the Bay. “Turbid” can mean muddied or stirred up. What decision is Douglass trying to make here? What did he decide? How does the information here help you think about the focus question: What were some of the factors people had to consider as they thought about escaping from slavery? “Commencement” means beginning. Douglass decided that too much time had passed, and he needed to act before the end of 1835. Why did Douglass want to involve others in his plans? What did he tell them? “Feasible” means possible. Were Douglass and his companions always sure of what they were planning to do? Because of the Fugitive Slave Act, escaped slaves could be captured and returned to their owners. How does Douglass portray slavery? What images does he associate with freedom? What evidence does Douglass offer that tells you how difficult this decision was for him to make? Patrick Henry said these words in support of the colonists’ revolt from England. How does the information here help you think about the focus question: What were some of the factors people had to consider as they thought about escaping from slavery? Close Window Back to Top