Slavery was abundant in Southern cities, as well as in the countryside. The roles of urban slaves varied greatly from those of plantation slaves. Frederick Douglass' move to the city was the turning point in his life and without his move to the city, Fredrick Douglass would not have been the famous abolitionist and writer we know today. Urban slaves typically performed domestic, artisan, or factory work, while plantation slaves generally were in the fields or performing other agricultural work. Since Baltimore was a port city, during the time he lived there, Douglass had the opportunity to learn and work in the trade of ship caulking, which is a type of craft work. Urban slavery provided, in most cases, an easier life for a slave. In general, a city slave would be better clothed and fed and would avoid most of the physical abuse suffered by the rural slave. When Douglass lived as a slave in Baltimore, he was always well fed and clothed. Urban slavery also offered more opportunities for escape, thanks to white abolitionists and free blacks who were there to help slaves escape to freedom. Douglass successfully managed, with the help of Gentile whites, to escape the shackles of freedom and go North. Frederick's life in the city transformed him into the powerful orator and writer we know today. Most slaves in the country, as we well know, worked as field laborers and jobs involving crops and livestock, with the exception of house slaves. In the city, however, slaves performed different types of jobs. “City slaves were typically craftsmen and craftsmen, dockers and carriers, barbers and common laborers and domestic servants and hotel servants.” (Starobin 9). Frederick Douglass worked as a domestic servant and as a… middle of paper… he struggled to escape before he even reached the water. The opportunities to escape the city allowed Frederick to escape and change his life forever. Douglas's life in the city was very different from his life in the country, and living in the city changed his life. In the city he worked as a ship caulker at which he excelled, compared to a farm laborer from country to country at which he was not expert. In the city he was treated better and always fed, but in the countryside he suffered from lack of food most of the time. The city opened his mind to escape and with the help of the abolitionists he successfully escaped. He had no competent people in the country to help him and was abandoned by an ignorant and loyal slave. The city's better opportunities and atmosphere led Frederick Douglass to escape freedom and dedicate the rest of his life to fighting to end slavery