The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” was published in 1845. It talks about Douglass’ life as a slave and his dream of becoming a free man eventually. Now, the answers to your questions are:
1) According to Douglass, the conditions on Lloyd’s plantations were cruel and harsh. Slaves would receive a montly allowance of food, which basically consisted of pork or fish and one bushel of corn meal. Once a year, slaves would get clothes. Adult slaves also received one blanket per person, but there were no beds for them. Some slaves would trade whatever they got in order to obtain something they wanted or needed, and they would also steal small amounts of certain food items from the plantations in order to supplement their needs.
2) Douglass said that slaves used to sing wild, spontaneous songs that sounded sad and joyful at the same time. He claimed that he did not understand the real meaning of those songs while he was a slave himself, but he later realized that it was all about slavery. According to Douglass, after he found out what those songs were really about, he began to understand how evil slavery was, and he would cry while listening to these songs. He believed that some people misinterpreted those songs as they thought the slaves were singing out of happiness (when they were actually complaining about their poor conditions).
