Frederick Douglass
The author and narrator of the Narrative. Douglass, a rhetorically skilled and spirited man, is a powerful orator for the abolitionist movement. One of his reasons for writing the Narrative is to offer proof to critics who felt that such an articulate and intelligent man could not have once been enslaved. The Narrative describes Douglass’s experience under slavery from his early childhood until his escape North at the age of twenty. Within that time, Douglass progresses from unenlightened victim of the dehumanizing practices of slavery to educated and empowered young man. He gains the resources and convictions to escape to the North and wage a political fight against the institution of slavery.
Read an in-depth analysis of Frederick Douglass.
Captain Anthony
Douglass’s first master and probably his father. Anthony is the clerk for Colonel Lloyd, managing Lloyd’s surrounding plantations and the overseers of those plantations. Anthony is a cruel man who takes pleasure in whipping ensalved people, especially Douglass’s Aunt Hester. He is called “Captain” because he once piloted ships up the Chesapeake Bay.
Read an in-depth analysis of Captain Anthony.
Hugh Auld
Thomas Auld’s brother and Douglass’s occasional master. Hugh lives in Baltimore with his wife, Sophia. Thomas and Lucretia Auld allow Hugh to borrow Douglass as a servant for Hugh’s son, Thomas. Hugh is well aware that whites maintain power over Black people by depriving them of education, and he unwittingly enlightens Douglass in this matter. Hugh is not as cruel as his brother Thomas, but he becomes harsher due to a drinking habit in his later years. Hugh seems to suffer some consciousness that slavery and the law’s treatment of Black people are inhumane, but he does not allow this consciousness to interfere with his exercising power over Douglass.
Read an in-depth analysis of Hugh Auld.
Sophia Auld
Hugh Auld’s wife. Sophia was a working woman before marrying Hugh, and she had never "owned" enslaved people. The corruption of owning a slave transforms Sophia from a sympathetic, kind woman into a vengeful monster.
Read an in-depth analysis of Sophia Auld.
Edward Covey
A notorious slave “breaker” and Douglass’s keeper for one year. Slave owners send unruly enslaved people to Covey, who works and punishes them (thus getting free labor to cultivate his rented land) and returns them trained and docile. Covey’s tactics as a slaveholder are both cruel and sneaky. He is deliberately deceptive and devious when interacting with enslaved people, creating an atmosphere of constant surveillance and fear.
Read an in-depth analysis of Edward Covey.
Aunt Hester
Douglass’s aunt. Aunt Hester is an exceptionally beautiful and noble-looking woman. Captain Anthony is extraordinarily interested in Hester, and she therefore suffers countless whippings at his hands.
Read an in-depth analysis of Aunt Hester.
William Lloyd Garrison
Founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Garrison meets Douglass when Douglass is persuaded to tell his history at an abolitionist convention in Nantucket in 1841. Immediately impressed with Douglass’s poise and with the power of his story, Garrison hires him for the abolitionist cause. His Preface to the Narrative is thought by some to aggrandize his own role in Douglass’s success.
Read an in-depth analysis of William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips.
Wendell Phillips
President of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Phillips considers Douglass a close friend. He admires Douglass’s bravery in publishing his history without pseudonyms, but also fears for Douglass’s safety.
Read an in-depth analysis of William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips.
Colonel Edward Lloyd
Captain Anthony’s boss and Douglass’s first owner. Colonel Lloyd is an extremely rich man who owns all of the enslaved people and lands where Douglass grows up. Lloyd insists on extreme subservience from enslaved people and arbitrarily punishes them.
Lucretia Auld
Captain Anthony’s daughter and Thomas Auld’s wife. After Captain Anthony’s death, Lucretia inherits half his property, including Douglass. Lucretia is as cruel an owner as her husband.
Captain Thomas Auld
Lucretia Auld’s husband and Hugh Auld’s brother. Thomas Auld did not grow up in a slave-owner family, but gained them through his marriage to Lucretia. After attending a church meeting in Maryland, Thomas Auld becomes a “pious” man, but he uses his newfound Christianity to be even more self-righteously brutal toward enslaved people.
Betsy Bailey
Douglass’s grandmother. Betsy raised Douglass on Captain Anthony’s land after Douglass’s mother was taken away. Betsy served the Anthony family her whole life and had many children and grandchildren, who were also enslaved by the Anthonys. After seeing Captain Anthony’s children from birth to death, Betsy is abandoned to a hut in the woods instead of being allowed to go free.
Harriet Bailey
Douglass’s mother. Harriet is separated from Douglass after his birth, but she still attempts to maintain family relations by walking twelve miles to see him at night. She dies when Douglass is young.
Sandy Jenkins
An acquaintance of Douglass, also enslaved. The highly superstitious Sandy stands in the Narrative as a representative of all uneducated, superstitious enslaved people. Sandy is kind to Douglass when Douglass runs away from Covey’s, but the Narrative also implies that Sandy may have informed William Freeland about Douglass’s plans to escape.
William Freeland
Douglass’s keeper for two years following his time with Covey. Freeland is the most fair and straightforward of all Douglass’s masters and is not hypocritically pious. Douglass acknowledges Freeland’s exceptional fairness with a pun on his name—“free land.”
William Hamilton
Father-in-law of Thomas Auld. After Lucretia Auld’s death, Thomas remarries Hamilton’s oldest daughter. Hamilton himself sometimes takes charge of Douglass, as when Hamilton arrests Douglass for plotting to escape from Freeland.
William Gardner
A Baltimore shipbuilder. Hugh Auld sends Douglass to Gardner to learn the trade of caulking. Gardner’s shipyard is disorderly with racial tension between free-Black carpenters and white carpenters, and Gardner is under pressure to complete several ships for a deadline.
Anna Murray
Douglass’s wife. Anna is a free Black woman from Baltimore who becomes engaged to Douglass before he escapes to freedom. After his escape, Anna and Douglass marry in New York and then move to New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Nathan Johnson
A Massachusetts worker and abolitionist. Johnson is immediately kind and helpful to the Douglasses, loaning them money, helping Douglass find work, and suggesting Douglass’s new name. Johnson is well informed on national politics and keeps a nice household.
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