My Bondage and My Freedom

On Saturday morning, feeling that he had not a friend on earth, Douglass set off toward Covey’s and got there around 9:00 am. Covey had been hiding in a fence corner, darted out as soon as he saw Douglass, and tried to tie him up to whip him. Douglass ran back toward the woods and hid in a cornfield. He stayed there until nighttime and laid down to rest. Just then, he heard footsteps. They turned out to be those of an enslaved person named Sandy, who was enslaved by William Groomes of Easton. Sandy’s enslaver, too, had hired him out to a man named Mr. Kemp. Sandy was married to a free woman and was walking toward her home to spend Sunday with her. He invited Douglass to join him there. When they arrived, Sandy’s wife quickly prepared an ash cake. Sandy and his wife, like the other Black people in that area, liked and respected Douglass and figured that he was so persecuted because he was the only enslaved person around who could read and write.

Recalling the supper that he had with Sandy and his wife in relation to those shared with some of the world’s most notable men, Douglass recalled that the meal of ash cake and cold water was the best of his life.