Question

Douglass was seven when his mother died, and he saw her only four or five times before she died. Who cared for him on the plantation?

A) His maternal grandmother.
B) His aunt.
C) An older enslaved woman.
D) The overseer's wife.

Answer 1

Frederick Douglass was cared for by other enslaved individuals (option C) on the plantation after his mother died when he was about seven years old. He did not have the care of his grandmother, aunt, or overseer's wife.

Step-by-step explanation:

When Frederick Douglass was a child, after his mother's death, he was cared for not by his maternal grandmother or an overseer's wife, but instead by other enslaved people on the plantation. It was a common practice during the times of American slavery for children to be separated from their parents. Douglass’s grandmother, despite her dedication and the fact that she had raised her owner from infancy and served his family her entire life, was left in slavery without being freed, exemplifying the inhumanity and cruelty of the slave system. Furthermore, Douglass himself was chosen to be raised by someone other than his immediate family after his mother's passing.