In his book Learning to Read and Write, Frederick gives an account of his struggle to read and write while still a young slave. Fredrick explain how his masters, the Hugh family, laid the foundation to his search for education. Mrs. Hugh introduced Douglas to reading and writing but soon drifted to slavery and racist antics courtesy of her husband. She testing all her best to stop any form of teaching Douglas. Douglas wish to learn led him to search help from white children. He always carried a book along while performing his errands and would search help from the friendly White children he met.
When Douglas attained 12 years, he acquired a book, the Colombian Orator that gave him an grasp about slavery. Within the book was a conversation