"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass, List 3

Sandy (United States of America)
Growing up a slave on a southern plantation in the 1800s was a horrible, traumatizing experience. Famous orator Frederick Douglass' childhood as a slave included not knowing his birthday or his age, not knowing his father—who might have been his white master, and only seeing his mother a few times, and only at night, before she died when he was seven.

This list covers vocabulary from "I have had two masters.…"—"...on the plantation."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. overseer
    a person who directs and manages others
    His farms and slaves were under the care of an overseer. The overseer’s name was Plummer. Mr. Plummer was a miserable drunkard, a profane swearer, and a savage monster.
  2. profane
    grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred
    His farms and slaves were under the care of an overseer. The overseer’s name was Plummer. Mr. Plummer was a miserable drunkard, a profane swearer, and a savage monster.
  3. cudgel
    a club that is used as a weapon
    He always went armed with a cowskin and a heavy cudgel.
  4. enraged
    marked by extreme anger
    I have known him to cut and slash the women’s heads so horribly, that even master would be enraged at his cruelty, and would threaten to whip him if he did not mind himself.
  5. humane
    marked by concern with the alleviation of suffering
    Master, however, was not a humane slaveholder. It required extraordinary barbarity on the part of an overseer to affect him.
  6. barbarity
    the quality of being cruel, inhumane, or uncivilized
    Master, however, was not a humane slaveholder. It required extraordinary barbarity on the part of an overseer to affect him.
  7. outrage
    a wantonly cruel act
    It was the first of a long series of such outrages, of which I was doomed to be a witness and a participant. It struck me with awful force.
  8. spectacle
    something or someone seen, especially a notable sight
    It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it.
  9. conjecture
    the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence
    Why master was so careful of her, may be safely left to conjecture.
  10. graceful
    characterized by beauty of movement, style, or form
    She was a woman of noble form, and of graceful proportions, having very few equals, and fewer superiors, in personal appearance, among the colored or white women of our neighborhood.
  11. morals
    motivation based on ideas of right and wrong
    Had he been a man of pure morals himself, he might have been thought interested in protecting the innocence of my aunt; but those who knew him will not suspect him of any such virtue.
  12. venture
    proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
    I was so terrified and horror-stricken at the sight, that I hid myself in a closet, and dared not venture out till long after the bloody transaction was over.
  13. outskirts
    area relatively far from the center, as of a city or town
    I had always lived with my grandmother on the outskirts of the plantation, where she was put to raise the children of the younger women.
  14. plantation
    an estate where cash crops are grown on a large scale
    I had always lived with my grandmother on the outskirts of the plantation, where she was put to raise the children of the younger women.
Created on Sun May 10 16:21:30 EDT 2026 (updated Mon May 11 21:11:55 EDT 2026)

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