“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men” - Frederick Douglass
(Frederick Douglass)
Frederick Douglass was born as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in February of 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland, USA. He was born into slavery and the exact date of his birth is unknown. His father was a white man that he never met and his mother was a slave that his father raped. He was separated from his mother at a young age. He lived with his mother’s mother until the age of 7 where he was separated from her. His mother died when he was 10 years old. After one of his slave masters died he was moved to his deceased master’s brother in Baltimore,MD. When he was 12 his master’s wife started to teach him the alphabet.
(Douglass as a child)
His master disapproved of his wife teaching Douglass the alphabet as this may lead to him eventually wanting freedom. In private Douglass taught himself to read by reading newspapers, pamphlets and other forms of media. When his master hired him out to another slave master he taught those slaves to read the Bible at a sunday school which he taught classes at. More than 40 slaves would attend the class. These classes went on for 6 months unnoticed until 1 sunday a group of slave masters busted in to disperse the class. His 1st slave master took Douglass back and sent him to another slavemaster with the reputation of a “Slave Breaker”. Douglass was beat regularly and he was nearly broke mentally. At 16 years old Douglass finally fought back and beat his slave master in a fight and he was never whipped or beat again. In 1836 Douglass tried to escape but was unsuccessful. In 1837 Douglass met and fell in love with a free Black woman in Baltimore who was 5 years older than him named Anna Murray.
(Douglass’ wife, Anna Murray)
Moreover, on September 3rd, 1838 Douglass successfully escaped by a train that was traveling North. He traveled through the slave state of Delaware disguised as a sailor with fake documents saying he was a free man. He then got into the free state of Pennsylvania. From Pennsylvania he moved up to New York City, NY and stayed with a well known abolitionist. After settling in New York City he sent for his girlfriend Anna Murray. They married on September 15th, 1838. They adopted the name Johnson as their last name. They then moved to New Bedford, MA. They then changed their last name again to Douglass. Douglass became a licensed preacher in 1839. In 1840 he delivered a speech in Elmira, NY which was a station for the underground railroad. Douglass became a regular at abolitionist meetings in New Bedford, MA. Douglass drew inspiration from abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. In 1841 Douglass heard Garrison speak at a meeting of the Bristol Anti-Slavery Society. At another meeting Douglass was unexpectedly invited to speak of his story of escaping slavery. Douglass was encouraged to become an anti-slavery lecturer. At 23 years old he spoke at an anti-slavery convention in Nantucket, MA. In 1843 Douglass joined other speakers on a 6 month tour through the Eastern and Midwestern parts of the US. At a lecture in Pendleton, Indiana an angry mob of slavery supporters chased and beat Douglass. He was rescued by a Quaker family.
Furthermore, Douglass suffered a broken hand that never healed properly. In 1845 Douglass published his book Narrative of the Life Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Within three years, it had been reprinted nine times, with 11,000 copies circulating in the United States. It was also translated into French and Dutch and published in Europe.In 1845 Douglass went to tour Europe. on the 16th of August 1845 he arrived in Liverpool, England. He then traveled to Ireland. Douglass spent 2 years in Ireland and England. During his trip Douglass became legally free. Douglass returned to the US in Spring of 1847.
(Douglass in 1847)
Douglass published the first abolitionist paper called The North Star in Rochester,NY. In September of 1848 Douglass wrote a letter to his former slave master berating him for his conduct, and enquiring after members of his family still held by him. In 1848, Douglass was the only African American to attend the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention, in upstate New York. Douglass stood and spoke eloquently in favor of women’s suffrage; he said that he could not accept the right to vote as a black man if women could not also claim that right. In 1851 Douglass merged The North Star with Gerrit Smith's Liberty Party Paper to form Frederick Douglass' Paper, which was published until 1860. On July 5, 1852, Douglass delivered an address to the ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. This speech became known as “What to the slave is the 4th of July?".
(A drawing of Douglass)
Douglass met with abolitionist John Brown two months before Brown lead his raid on the federal armory in Harpers Ferry. Douglass disapproved of Brown's plan to start an armed slave rebellion in the South. After the raid, Douglass fled for a time to Canada, fearing guilt by association as well as arrest as a co-conspirator.
(A drawing of John Brown (Left) and Douglass (Right))
In 1855 he published his 2nd book My Bondage and My Freedom.
(Douglass in 1856)
Douglass conferred with President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 on the treatment of black soldiers, and with President Andrew Johnson on the subject of black suffrage. During the U.S. Presidential Election of 1864, Douglass supported John C. Frémont. Douglass was disappointed that President Lincoln did not publicly endorse suffrage for blacks. Douglass believed that since African-American men were fighting for the Union in the American Civil War, they deserved the right to vote. Douglass helped the Union by serving as a recruiter for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. In 1870, Douglass started his last newspaper, the New National Era, attempting to hold the US to its commitment to equality. In 1872, Douglass became the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States, as Victoria Woodhull's running mate on the Equal Rights Party ticket. He was also presidential elector at large for the State of New York, and took that state's votes to Washington, D.C. His home in Rochester, NY was burned down by a suspected arsonist. Douglass then moved to Washington D.C.
(Douglass in the 1870’s)
In 1881 he published his 3rd book Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. In this book he said that Abraham Lincoln was the best US president.
(A painting of Douglass (Far Right) with U.S. President Abraham Lincoln (Far Left))
In 1877 Douglass met with is former slavemaster and reconciled. In 1882 his wife Anna Douglass died. In 1884 he remarried to Helen Pitts, a white feminist from Honeoye, New York. He received criticism for marrying a white woman which he replied by saying that his first marriage had been to someone the color of his mother, and his second to someone the color of his father.
(Douglass (Left) with his sister in law (Middle) and his 2nd wife Helen Pitts (Right))
At the 1888 Republican National Convention, Douglass became the first African American to receive a vote for President of the United States in a major party's roll call vote. The Republic of Haiti appointed Douglass minister-resident and consul-general in 1889 and the position lasted for little over a year. In 1892, Douglass became Haiti's commissioner to the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. Also in 1892, Douglass constructed rental housing for blacks, now known as Douglass Place, in the Fells Point area of Baltimore, MD. On February 20th, 1895 Frederick Douglass died of a heart attack and/or stroke. He was about 77 years old.
(Douglass in 1895)
Today is the 122nd anniversary of his death. Take time to remember this great abolitionist today.
Books by Frederick Douglass
A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave(1845)
My Bondage and My Freedom (1855)
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881)
(Matthew Henson)
(Henson as a young man)
(Henson (Right) with his associates)
(Henson (Right) at the White House)
(Henson later in life)
