DOUGLASS, FREDERICK
A very influential African American leader of the nineteenth century, Frederick Douglass used his exceptional skills as an orator, writer, journalist, and politician to fight for the ABOLITION of SLAVERY and for an end to RACIAL DISCRIMINATION. He helped to shape the climate of public opinion that led to the ratification of the THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH, and FIFTEENTH
AMENDMENTS to the U.S. Constitution, which
were created in large measure to protect, respec-
tively, the freedom, citizenship, and VOTING
RIGHTS of ex-slaves. His Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass (1845) is a classic account of
the dehumanizing effects of slavery for slave and
slaveholder alike.
According to his own calculations, Frederick
Augustus Washington Bailey was born in Febru-
ary 1817, on a plantation west of the Tuckahoe
River in Talbot County, Maryland. (As an adult,
he celebrated his birthday on February 14.) His
mother was a black slave, and his father most
likely her white owner. Douglass was separated
from his mother at an early age, and at age 7 he
was sent to Baltimore to work for a family. He
later regarded this change from the plantation to
the city as a great stroke of fortune because in
Baltimore he was able to begin educating him-
self. His master’s wife taught him the alphabet,
and Douglass, under the tutelage of young boys
on the streets and docks, proceeded to teach
himself how to read and write. Even when he
was very young, his limited reading convinced
him of the evils of slavery and the need to seek
his freedom.
Douglass continued to suffer under slavery.
At times during the 1830s, he was sent back to
the plantation to endure its scourges, including
beatings and whippings. He briefly attempted to
teach fellow slaves to read and write, but his
efforts were quickly put to an end by whites.
In 1838, living again in Baltimore and caulk-
ing ships, Douglass escaped north and won his
freedom. He married a free African American
woman, Anna Murray, and settled in New Bed-
ford, Massachusetts. By then a fugitive slave, he
changed his name to Frederick Douglass in
order to avoid capture.Douglass quickly became
a respected member of the community in New
Bedford. However, he was disappointed to find
that racism was prevalent in the North as well as
in the South.
Shortly after his arrival in the North, Dou-
glass became an avid reader of the Liberator, a
newspaper published by a leading abolitionist,
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.He became involved
in abolitionist campaigns and soon earned a
reputation as an eloquent speaker for the cause.
In 1841, he met Garrison and was recruited to
speak for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Soci-
ety. Throughout his life, he would travel all over
the United States on speaking engagements,
becoming a famous and sought-after orator.
In part to refute those who did not believe
that someone as eloquent as he had once been a
slave, Douglass published Narrative of the Life of
