Frederick Douglass
Abolitionist and Civil/Human Rights Champion
1817 - 1895
- Born a slave in Maryland on February 14, 1817.
- Was beaten badly by slave-breakers as a child. Worked but always fought back.
- Worked as a ship caulker on the docks of Baltimore, Maryland.
- Fell in love with Anna Muray, a free Black woman, in Baltimore; on September 2, 1838 they escaped to New York where they later married.
- In 1841, Frederick gave a speech on escaping from slavery to the Massachussetts Anti-Slavery Society.
- Became famous nationally as a Great Orator and outspoken foe of slavery. Regularly attracted audiences numbered in the tens of
thousands for his anti-slavery speeches.
- Frederick Douglass publised his autobiography titled Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass.
- He started an abolitionist newspaper named the North Star in Rochester, New York.
- He fled the United Stated to Canada for a second time in the early 1860's to escape possible capture or assassination.
- Frederick Douglass returned to the US after the Civil War.
- He served the US as Secretary of Santo Domingo commission in 1871.
- Douglass served as Marshall of Washington, DC from 1877 to 1881.
- He served the US as Minister to Haiti from 1889 to 1891.
- Frederick Douglass was the first Black candidate for Vice-President.
- Frederick Douglass died on February 20, 1895 at the age of 78.
- Frederick Douglass was considered one of the greatest orators and outspoken Anti-Slavery voices of the mid to late 1800s.