Becoming Frederick Douglass

SONG I'll be so glad when the sun goes down, when the sun goes down, I'll be so glad when the sun goes down, when the sun goes down.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

There was, in the Bay Side, a man named Edward Covey, who enjoyed the execrated reputation of being a first rate hand at breaking young Negroes. If at any one time of my life I was made to drink the bitterest dregs of slavery, that time was during my stay with Mr. Covey.

DERRICK SPIRES

Douglass's time with Edward Covey is a turning point in his life. He gets sent to Covey, the famed breaker of enslaved people because he's gotten a bit of a reputation as unruly, uncontrolled. He's been reading, he's been holding Sunday Schools, he's tried to escape. He's done all this. And so, it's the last straw. "We're gonna finally break you."

EDWARD BAPTIST

Individuals who were suspected of being potential troublemakers, they were sent to slave breakers. And his job was to get them in the habit of submitting to the demands of slavery.

GERARD ACHING

Mr. Covey found a particular niche in the economy for himself. That is to say not only did he have slaves himself, but he found a niche in the sense that he was able to create a reputation for himself as being able to...to discipline.

EDWARD

Douglass sees Covey's task as one of transforming him into a brute, and a brute in the context is a farm animal. It's something below human.

NICK BROMELL

Edward Covey would give you scantiest of allowances and clothing, an-and work you endlessly, endlessly, endlessly, an and the whole idea was just to break a person in body, and that would break them in spirit.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

I had brought my mind to a firm resolve to obey every order, however unreasonable. And if Mr. Covey should then undertake to beat me, I would defend and protect myself to the best of my ability. (somber music)

EDWARD

For those several months, Covey gave Douglass his full attention. So whenever Douglass was working in the field, Covey found some fault with his work and would harass him, shout at him and on multiple occasions, beat him.

KEN MORRIS

After six months of taking these brutal beatings, Frederick had enough. (sounds of men fighting) He and Covey had this epic two-hour battle that was more of a wrestling match than a fisticuffs, because Frederick understood that he needed to use his mind and be strategic. (sounds of men fighting)

NICK

His intention was not to, defeat and punish Covey to the greatest extent possible. It was simply to draw a line and say, "If you, if you try to come after me physically, you're...this is what you are going to get." (sounds of men fighting)

DERRICK

Covey himself was in a bit of a precarious spot. He had the reputation as the slave breaker. And so, to retaliate in a way that was visible, as in, "I could not break Douglass, therefore I had to kill him," was against Covey's best interest.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my life as a slave. It rekindled in my breast the smoldering embers of liberty. I was nothing before. I was a man now.