In the remainder of his memoirs, Douglass recounts some of the more interesting (and sometimes unexpected) episodes which occurred in the latter part of his life. For a time after the Civil War, Douglass earned a comfortable living by giving lectures. After one particular lecture, Douglass was given a note, stating that Mrs. Amanda Sears, the daughter of Thomas and Lucretia Auld and granddaughter of Captain Anthony, his former master, was in the audience. After speaking with Amanda's husband, John, Douglass was invited to visit their home. Although there were many women in that house, Douglass immediately recognized Amanda Auld despite not having seen her for several decades. Afterward, Amanda and Douglass began a long-lasting friendship, developing mutual respect and admiration for each other.
Amanda's father, Thomas Auld, was still alive in 1877, and on his deathbed he requested to see Douglass. The reader may remember that in the Narrative, Douglass presents Auld as an uncaring, cruel, and hypocritical slaveholder. Douglass recalls: "But now that slavery was destroyed, and the slave and the master stood upon equal ground, I was not only willing to meet him, but was very glad to do so." The sight of the incapacitated and bedridden Auld brought tears to Douglass' eyes. It was an emotional meeting because both men were at first too choked with emotion to speak. Thomas Auld had read Douglass' Narrative and wanted to correct a point made in it about Douglass' grandmother. Auld assured Douglass that he had taken good care of Douglass' grandmother in her old age and that he certainly did not abandon her to die in her cabin. Douglass then told Auld that he had indeed incorrectly reported the incident in the Narrative, and he regarded both Auld and himself to be victims of a cruel system.
On this trip to St. Michael's, Maryland, Douglass also met the former sheriff who had locked him up when he attempted his first escape. Now, the former sheriff was among many who warmly welcomed his visit. Clearly, in Life and Times, Douglass wants to forgive the sins of a previous generation and move on to a new and brighter era of American civilization. He reports that the descendants of his former oppressors now treat him as an equal: "The abolition of slavery has not merely emancipated the negro, but liberated the whites." (Note: In the Narrative, Douglass spells St. Michael's with an apostrophe; today, the name of the town is spelled without an apostrophe.)
Douglass cautions, however, that prejudice continues to exist in American society. He describes his problems with public transportation on occasion because of his race.
Sadly, in the years preceding and following Douglass' death, the increasing use of segregation denied blacks the rights accorded by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. A year after Douglass' death, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal under the Constitution; the "separate but equal" doctrine was not fully overturned until the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Douglass ends his Life and Times with a warning about the rise of Jim Crow laws and the imposition of near-slavery status on blacks in the South. The North "did not deprive the old master class of the power of life and death which was the soul of the relation of master and slave. They [whites] could not of course sell them [former slaves], but retained the power to starve them to death, and wherever this power is held, there is the power of slavery." In effect, Douglass says, economic slavery can be just as devastating as legal bondage. But Douglass remained a believer in enterprise and capitalism. For him, money and success lead to civil and political rights. Douglass' parting advice is compelling but simplistic; he urges blacks to save their money: "Every dollar you lay up, represents one day's independence, one day of rest and security in the future. If the time shall ever come when we shall possess in the colored people of the United States, a class of men noted for enterprise, industry, economy, and success, we shall no longer have any trouble in the matter of civil and political rights."
