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Life as a Slave
Chapter 20
New Relations and Duties
Hired out to the comparatively humane William Freeland, Douglass finds relief from Covey's regime, reflects on why ‘religious’ slaveholders like Rigby Hopkins are the cruelest, and starts a secret Sabbath school that teaches dozens of fellow slaves to read.
William Freeland as the least bad of Douglass's mastersWhy irreligious masters were preferable to pious onesThe secret Sabbath school under the oak treeChristmas holidays as a deliberate ‘safety valve’ for slavery