Frederick Douglass: A shipyard caulker who had to hand over his wages
Enslaved in Maryland, he learned a skilled trade in the Baltimore shipyards but had to give his pay to the man who claimed to own him. He escaped in 1838 and became one of the great speakers of his age.
Learning to read
Frederick Douglass was born enslaved in Maryland around 1818. As a boy in Baltimore he was taught the alphabet until it was stopped, then kept learning in secret from white children in the street and from discarded papers.
Skilled, but unpaid
As a young man he was hired out as a caulker in the Baltimore shipyards, a skilled trade. Each week he had to hand his wages to his enslaver, which he later wrote made the injustice impossible to ignore.
Escape and work
In 1838 he escaped north by train and boat, dressed as a sailor. In New Bedford, Massachusetts, white caulkers would not work alongside him, so he took any labouring job he could find: shovelling coal, sawing wood, loading ships.
What came of it
In 1841 he spoke at an anti-slavery meeting and was asked to lecture. His Narrative (1845) became a best seller, and supporters in Britain raised money to buy his legal freedom in 1846.
He took whatever honest work he could get while barred from his own trade. Being paid fairly for your work is a right worth defending.
Where the facts come from: Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845); David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom (2018).
