Lesson 158: Douglass, Part 3
Reading assignment: Chapters 4, 5
There is a description of life on a large plantation. These are the recollections of a 28-year-old man regarding his life prior to his eighth birthday. They are remarkably detailed memories. I suspect that either he was highly creative in his version, or else he spoke with others on that plantation, who related stories. But he was sent away at about seven or eight. He did not return to that plantation until he was about 14. He spent one month there.
I think it is highly likely that his version was not a first-hand account. If it was, he had a remarkable memory for events that took place two earlier. The precision of the details seems to be at odds with human memory at age six or seven.
Thomas Auld, who had control over Douglass, sent him to live with his brother Hugh, who lived in Baltimore. Douglass was about seven years old.