Master Andrew

Andrew, the son of Captain Anthony, is a feared figure on Lloyd's plantation due to his harsh and relentless drunken behavior. His cruelty and ruthlessness instill fear in many slaves.

Master Thomas Auld

Thomas Auld, the brother of Hugh Auld and former husband of Lucretia (Captain Anthony's daughter), takes Douglass to live with him in St. Michael's, Maryland, for two years after a severe disagreement with Hugh. These years are the most difficult of Douglass' life, marked by severe physical and mental suffering. Auld is notorious for keeping his slaves perpetually hungry.

Captain Anthony

Captain Anthony is Douglass' first master and remains so until his death. Although Anthony does not play a significant role in Douglass' narrative, his death causes significant upheaval in Douglass' life, forcing him to move among Anthony's relatives. Douglass hints that Anthony might be his father and describes many hardships due to Anthony's neglect, leaving him vulnerable to the whims of Anthony's children, Lucretia and Andrew, and their descendants.

Mr. Hugh Auld

Hugh Auld, Captain Thomas Auld's brother-in-law, employs Douglass as a teenager in Baltimore for seven years, primarily to care for his son, Thomas. Compared to other slave masters, Auld is less violent and more just towards Douglass. However, he forbids his wife, Sophia, from teaching Douglass to read, arguing that education ''would forever unfit him to be a slave.'' Ironically, Auld inadvertently aids Douglass' escape by hiring him out to ship carpenters.

Mrs. Sophia Auld

Sophia Auld, a weaver and wife of Hugh Auld, initially plays a crucial role in Douglass' literacy by teaching him the alphabet. However, she ceases her lessons when her husband discovers them and warns, ‘‘If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell.’’ Over time, Sophia becomes cold and harsh towards Douglass, treating him like other slave owners do. Despite this transformation, she remains the kindest of Douglass' many masters.

Harriet Bailey

Harriet Bailey, Frederick Douglass' mother, is separated from him at birth. Despite this, she makes a strenuous effort to visit her son by walking twelve miles from the farm where she works to spend a few hours with him before returning by sunrise. She passes away when Douglass is about seven years old.

Edward Covey

Edward Covey was notorious as "a well-known negro breaker and slave-driver" in the St. Michael's region of Maryland, where Thomas Auld resided. His reputation ensured a continuous stream of slaves sent to him to be disciplined. Covey used relentless physical labor and punishment to crush a slave's spirit and reduce them to a brute. Despite his brutal methods, Covey hypocritically claimed to be "a pious soul." The slaves working under him referred to him as "a snake" because he would sneak up on them unexpectedly. Douglass was sent to Covey for a year as a field hand and endured the harshest trials of his life. However, at his lowest point, Douglass confronted Covey, challenging him directly. After a fierce battle where Douglass gained the upper hand, Covey never whipped him again.

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass narrates his life as a slave and his eventual path to freedom. From his birth, Douglass faced and witnessed numerous hardships as a slave in Maryland, often suffering due to his oppressed status. His efforts to liberate himself, first through self-education and later by escaping to the North, highlight the innate human desire for freedom.

William Freeland

William Freeland was another slaveholder for whom Douglass worked in the St. Michael's area of Maryland. Unlike other slaveholders, Freeland was more straightforward and reasonable. He did not claim to be deeply religious or pious, nor did he push his slaves to the brink of exhaustion. Freeland owned only two slaves, Henry Harris and John Harris. During the year Douglass worked for him, he was never struck even once.

Mr. William Gardner

William Gardner was a shipbuilder who employed Douglass. His shipyard was marked by significant racial tension between black and white workers.

William Lloyd Garrison

At the start of the narrative, William Lloyd Garrison wrote a preface to lend credibility to Frederick Douglass' slave account. Given the prevalent prejudice among many northerners toward African Americans, Garrison deemed it essential to add his own credibility in support of Douglass.

The Grandmother

Frederick Douglass' grandmother, whose real name is never revealed, symbolizes the dehumanizing effects of slavery on women. Born into slavery, she bore twelve children into slavery and died a slave, despite her significant contributions to the plantation. After caring for Captain Anthony from his infancy until his death, as well as looking after her numerous children and grandchildren, she was abandoned to survive on her own in the wilderness. Too old to work, she was left to die alone.

Henry Harris

Henry Harris is enslaved by Mr. Freeland. Alongside Douglass and others, he devises a plan to escape to the North. Douglass also teaches him to read and write.

John Harris

See Henry Harris.

Aunt Hester

Aunt Hester, a relative of Douglass, endures a brutal whipping from Mr. Plummer, an overseer. Douglass, still a child, witnesses his aunt being tied up and whipped until her blood drips to the floor. Her offense was meeting a young black man from another farm. This event marks Douglass' first encounter with the brutal realities of slavery.

Sandy Jenkins

Sandy Jenkins, a fellow slave Douglass encounters in the woods after fleeing Covey's farm, gives Douglass a root to carry on his right side, claiming it will protect him from physical harm.

Colonel Edward Lloyd

Colonel Lloyd owns the plantation in eastern Maryland where Douglass is born. In the Narrative, he is primarily mentioned in relation to his possessions and treatment of his slaves, particularly those who tend to his horses. Douglass describes Lloyd's plantation as being as large as a village, with nearly five hundred enslaved people.

Anna Murray

Anna Murray, briefly mentioned in the narrative, is a domestic worker in Baltimore who later relocates to New York to marry Douglass shortly after his arrival. She is a free worker who assists in funding Douglass' escape to freedom.

David Ruggles

David Ruggles, an African-American abolitionist and journalist, befriends Douglass upon his arrival in New York. He helps Douglass and Anna settle in New Bedford, Massachusetts.