Chapter 1 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

"They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time"

• Slaves are referring to the seasons.
• Slaves are referring to the time of the year when they were born.
• Slaves are referring to how they are treated by their masters.
• Slaves are referring to their favorite times of the year.

slave who worked in the fields

• ranch slave
• crop worker
• a hand used for planting
• field hand

a half black/half white person

• Mulatto
• Gelato
• Gringo
• African

Human flesh-mongers

• slave captors
• runaway slaves
• slave sellers
• slave beaters

A Biblical allusion to the story of Ham in the Bible (Genesis), often used as a justification for slavery

• “It will do away the force of the argument, that God cursed Ham, and therefore American slavery is right”
• "Since God cursed Adam and Eve, then it is OK to have slaves (as long as we feed them ham)"

not justified by the Bible

• really bad
• not Godly
• anti-Bible
• unscriptural

A man hired to oversee the slaves and make sure they did their work, punishing them if they did not

• bossman
• overseer
• lord
• master

“He always went armed with a cowskin and a heavy cudgel”

• A cowskin whip, most likely a cat o’nine tails, and a heavy club
• a large hammer with nails on it
• a weapon like a gun
• a large cat cage that slaves were put in

A post or beam to hold a slave in place as he/she was whipped

• board
• peg
• joist
• log

“It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass”

• Douglass was talking about how much he loved slavery.
• Douglass uses the metaphor to describe his developing knowledge of the horrors of slavery.
  
• Douglass was talking about how he used to walk through a garden gate.
• Douglass was making up a story about slavery.