Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Five years after Douglass moved to Baltimore, his old enslaver Captain Anthony suddenly died. He didn’t leave a will, so his estate had to be valued so it could be divided between his surviving children, Andrew and Lucretia. Douglass had to return to the plantation to be valued with the other property. This gave him a “new conception of his degraded condition” (67), as he was literally assessed and given a monetary value. All the enslaved people were grouped together to be valued, ranked alongside horses, sheep, and swine. The enslaved people were then divided as property between the two children. Andrew had a terrible reputation as a cruel wretch and a reckless spender, and everyone feared they would be assigned to him. Douglass was particularly afraid, for he had experienced kindness. He was grouped in the portion of the estate given to Lucretia and sent back to Baltimore. In total, the valuation took a month. Not long after this, both Lucretia and Andrew also died, and their property transferred to strangers. None of the enslaved people were freed. Douglass’s grandmother spent her life working on the plantation, and despite her years of work, when the property was divided up, she was essentially cast out.