Page "Frederick Douglass" Paragraph 6

When Douglass was about twelve years old, Hugh Auld's wife Sophia started teaching him the alphabet despite the fact that it was against the law to teach slaves to read.

Douglass described her as a kind and tender-hearted woman, who treated Douglass like one human being ought to treat another.

When Hugh Auld discovered her activity, he strongly disapproved, saying that if a slave learned to read, he would become dissatisfied with his condition and desire freedom.

Douglass later referred to this statement as the " first decidedly antislavery lecture " he had ever heard.

As told in his autobiography, Douglass succeeded in learning to read from white children in the neighborhood and by observing the writings of men with whom he worked.

Mrs. Auld one day saw Douglass reading a newspaper ; she ran over to him and snatched it from him, with a face that said education and slavery were incompatible with each other.