This event was the successful escape of his Aunt Jennie and another
slave. It caused a great commotion on the plantation. Nothing could
happen in a Southern community that excited so many and such varied
emotions as the escape of a slave from bondage: terror and revenge,
hope and fear, mingled with the images of the pursued and the pursuers,
with speculation in regard to the capture of the fugitive, and with
prayers for his success in the minds of the slaves. . . .
From now on his quick and comprehending mind saw and suffered things
that formerly never affected him. The hard and sometimes cruel
discipline, toil from sunrise to sunset, scant food, the stifling of
ambitions--all these began now to be perceived and felt, and the
impression they left sank into the soul of this rebellious boy. He saw
a slave killed by an overseer, on no other charge than that of being
"impudent." "Crimes" of this nature were committed, as far as he could
see, with impunity, and the memory of them haunted him by day and by
night.
Thus far Douglass had not felt the overseer's whip. He was too small
for anything except to run errands and to do light chores.
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