Our interview went...okay. It lasted thirty-seven minutes on the dot (which was twenty-three minutes shorter than the recommended time) and we messed up a couple of times (most crucially at the beginning, when we forgot to ask Mr. Goerlitz his background information). We also underestimated the amount of questions that we needed, which led to a couple of awkward pauses at certain points throughout the interview ("uhhh...do we have any more questions? Uh..."). In short, when (or if) next interview rolls around, there should be at least twenty questions that we have ready, and we should never forget to ask the interviewee's background. That way, we will get good starting information, and have a sufficient amount of things to talk about to fill at least an hour.
Frederick Douglass, as mentioned at the very beginning of Chapter I, was separated from his mother at a very young age. In fact, really the only thing he remembers of her is the fact that she talked to him at nights when he was a very young boy - but when he woke up in the morning, she was gone. Unfortunately, such an event was not uncommon with slaves. Because slaves were treated as property rather than people, slave families were often separated to prevent a human bond between them, which would likely interfere with the ordering of harsh, strenuous work and even harsher punishments. Additionally, Douglass mentions the fact that slaves were to know as little of themselves as possible, in order to preserve them as property, born not to think or feel but to work. In the masters' eyes, this would have likely had slaves see the world as one to work on, and so that is exactly what they would do. Of course, slaves eventually did rebel against their masters and go to every length to de...
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