The following passage was written by frederick douglass, a former slave and a leader of the
abolitionist movement. select the best evidence to support the statement that enslaved
family members were often separated from one another.
my mother and i were separated when i was but an infant-before i knew her as
my mother. it is a common custom, in the part of maryland from which i ran
away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age.. .for what this
separation is done, i do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the
child's affection towards its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection
of the mother for the child. this is the inevitable result.
from frederick douglass, narrative of the life of fredenck douglass, an american slave, wnitten by
himself