Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, more commonly known as Frederick Douglass, was born a slave in February of 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland, to a slave woman and an unknown white man. Although the exact date of Douglass’s birth is unknown, it is celebrated on February 14. Separated from his mother when only a few weeks old, Douglass was raised primarily by his grandparents and saw his mother only about five times before her death, when Douglass was still a young boy. When Douglass was eight, he was sent to Baltimore to live with a ship carpenter named Hugh Auld and his wife Sophia, who were relatives of his master.

When Douglass was about 12, Sophia Auld began teaching him the alphabet, even though it was illegal to teach slaves to read. After Hugh Auld forbade any further instruction, Douglass took it upon himself to learn how to read. Douglass secretly taught himself to read and write by giving away food in exchange for lessons from neighborhood boys. Douglass eventually purchased a copy of The Columbian Orator,  a popular schoolbook, which helped him to gain a further understanding of the power of the spoken word through oration.

At the age of 15, Douglass returned to Maryland’s eastern shore to become a field hand. It was during this time that Douglass truly encountered the viciousness of slavery. Douglass was whipped daily and was barely fed by notorious slave breaker Edward Covey. On January 1, 1836, Douglass made a resolution that he would be free by the end of that year. He planned an escape, but his plot was discovered, and Douglass was sent to jail for a period of time. It was two years later in September of 1838 that Douglass finally fled, traveling by train and steamboat to New York City. Douglass settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, with his new wife, Anna Murray, under the name “Frederick Douglass.” Douglass and his wife had five children together.

Douglass continued to educate himself and joined various abolitionist and religious groups in New Bedford. After subscribing to William Lloyd Garrison’s weekly journal, The Liberator, Douglass sought out Garrison to hear him speak at the meeting of the Bristol Anti-Slavery Society. It was at one of these meetings that Douglass was invited to speak. Douglass recounted the story of his slavery and escape to freedom to a captivated audience. It was after this story gained local popularity that Douglass delivered his first speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society’s annual convention in Nantucket.

This work led Douglass to pursue public speaking and writing as career choices. Douglass first published his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, in 1845. Douglass then spent two years in Ireland and Britain where he was featured as a lecturer in numerous churches and chapels. His popularity drew large crowds to hear him speak. Douglass commented that in England he was treated not “as a color, but as a man.” (1) It was during this trip that Douglass finally became legally free, with help from British supporters who raised funds to purchase his freedom from his American owner Thomas Auld. Three years later, Douglass began publishing the North Star, a four-page weekly paper, out of Rochester, New York.

In 1848, Douglass was the only African American to attend the first women’s rights convention – the Seneca Fall Convention. After Elizabeth Cady Stanton asked the assembly to pass a resolution asking for women’s right to vote, Douglass stood and spoke eloquently in favor of women’s suffrage.

Immediately after the Civil War began in April 1861, Douglass began to call for the use of black troops to fight the Confederacy. He argued for the establishment of colored regiments in the Union army. It was not until January 1863, following the Emancipation Proclamation, that Gov. John Andrew of Massachusetts was given permission to raise the 54th Regiment of Colored Troops. Douglass became the top recruiter for this cause, even getting two of his sons to enlist.

In July 1863, Douglass met with President Lincoln in the White House to redress the grievances that the black troops were suffering as second-class citizens. It was unheard of for a colored man to go to the White House with a grievance, but Douglass had many influential friends and was guaranteed to meet the president personally. The two men soon found that they had much in common.

Douglass stated three complaints to the President: Colored troops should be paid the same as white troops; they should be fairly treated, especially when captured by the Confederates (some colored troops had been immediately executed or sent into slavery); and they should receive the same promotions as whites, when their valor in battle demanded it. A few days later, President Lincoln issued an order "that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed; and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on the public works.” (2)

At the unveiling of the Emancipation Memorial in Washington’s Lincoln Park, Douglass was the keynote speaker. Douglass spoke frankly about Lincoln and when he finished his speech, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Mary Todd Lincoln then bestowed her husband’s favorite walking stick on Douglass in appreciation. Lincoln’s walking stick still resides at the site of Douglass’s home, Cedar Hill.

Throughout his later years, Douglass became the Recorder of Deeds for Washington, D.C., and Minister-General to the Republic of Haiti. After his beloved wife, Anna, died in 1882, Douglass remarried Helen Pitts two years later, a white feminist nearly 20 years younger than Douglass. The couple faced much controversy over their marriage, but Douglass responded to criticisms by stating that his first marriage had been to someone the color of his mother, and his second to someone the color of his father. (2)

Frederick Douglass died late in the afternoon on Tuesday, February 20, 1895, at his home in Anacostia, Washington, D.C. He was 77 years old.

By Kirsten Johnson, Communications Intern

(1) Marianne Ruuth (1996). Frederick Douglass p.117-118. Holloway House Publishing, 1996.

(2) Abraham Lincoln, Order of Retaliation, July 30, 1863.

(3) Julius Eric Thompson; James L. Conyers (2010). The Frederick Douglass encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 46. ISBN 9780313319884. Retrieved December 1, 2011.