FD Chapter 1 Study Guide, due March 17

CHAPTER 1 - 30 pts
Sets the scene; Frederick tells us some of his early life and begins to explain life on the plantation.

QUESTIONS - Answer in complete sentences.  (2 pts each)

1. Why is Frederick not sure when he was born?
2. What is Frederick’s last name at birth?
3. Why would slaveholders want to keep a slave ignorant of such a simple thing as the date of his birth? (Education)
4. Who were Frederick’s mother and father?
5. Why does Frederick make the point that a slaveholder who has fathered a child is likely to be tougher on that child?
6. Why does Frederick only rarely see his mother?
7. Is Frederick’s relationship with his mother typical of other slave children?
8. What is the role of the overseer on the plantation?
9. What is the relationship of the slaveholder to the overseer to the slave on the plantation? (History)
10. What do we learn about Plummer, the overseer?
11. Who is Frederick’s first master?
12. Why does Frederick tell the story of Lloyd’s Ned?

QUOTATIONS - Explain the speaker/situation and significance of each quote. (2 pts each)
 
“By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters to keep their slaves thus ignorant” (p. 21).
 
“He was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slaveholding” (p. 24).
 
“It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass” (p. 25).