In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, Frederick Douglass discusses growing up as a slave. Most of us learned in history class, that slaves were not allowed to use their mother tongues to speak to each other. If caught by their masters, they would be punish, which is something M. NourbeSe Philips mentions in her poem. There are many reasons for this like the fear of uniting and rebelling against the masters, talking behind their backs, and forcing them to stay quiet. However, this did not stop the slaves from speaking in their mother languages especially when they sang songs, which had hints/clues to helped them to escape slavery. I remember this one song we learned in music class that referred to a constellation that if you follow, it leads you to the North. Frederick Douglass also mentions that slaves around him would sing songs as they work on the fields. The songs mention the evils of slavery and masters in their native language so their masters cannot understand.

Using their mother tongue was a important step to gaining freedom, but in addition so is learning the language of the people who are controlling you. Masters did not educate their slaves for many reasons like the fear of  making slaves smarter and harder to control. Frederick Douglass learned that after one of his mistresses Sophia Auld got caught teaching him how to read and write. Sophia Auld supposedly never had a slave before so she has not yet been corrupted, but once her husband found out about her lessons, he stopped her immediately. However, this taught Douglass that learning their language as well as his own mother language is the key to his freedom.