Fredrick Douglass was first introduced to reading and writing by Sophia Auld. He then became aware of why white slave owners did not want slaves to be educated. The owners would have less control over the slaves because the slaves would start to understand the oppression they were going through. Douglass decided that the only way he was going to achieve freedom, he would have to learn to read and write. Sophia Auld was ordered to stop teaching Douglass, so he had to find another way to learn. He was so desperate to gain education that he would trade his food to the other boys in exchange for them teaching him how to read. This was a bold thing for Douglass to do since educating slaves was an offense. All the new knowledge that Douglass was