By using a variety of strategies such as these I was able to learn to read by the time I was about twelve. I was able to get a copy of a popular schoolbook, The Columbian Orator. I read it every chance I had. It had articles about a slave giving his master the reasons he had run away, causing his master to free him, and a speech denouncing slavery. This book enabled me to deepen my thoughts against slavery. It also made me more aware of my condition, making me more and more depressed. But my determination to be free only grew!