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Frederick Douglass Facts

Frederick Douglass Facts
Frederick Douglass was an American statesman, abolitionist, and writer who became most well-known for his antislavery writing and for becoming the national leader of the Massachusetts and New York abolitionist movement. He was born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, in February 1818, in Cordova, Maryland, to Harriet Bailey and Anthony Aaron. He began to learn the alphabet at age 12, and continued to teach himself to read and write. He believed that 'knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom.' He began to teach other slaves on the plantation where he was enslaved to read and write. He was eventually whipped brutally for providing lessons to other slaves. In 1938 he successfully managed to escape slavery after a 24 hour journey to New York City. His girlfriend joined him there and they married in September.
Interesting Frederick Douglass Facts:
Frederick Douglass married Anna Murray, a freed woman, 11 days after arriving in New York.
The couple moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, and the couple adopted the last name Douglass as their surname. It was chosen after the name of the characters in Walter Scott poem 'The Lady of the Lake'.
Frederick joined a Methodist church but it was segregated so he joined the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth were also members.
In 1839 Frederick Douglass became a licensed preacher. He also served as Sunday school superintendent, sexton, and steward.
Frederick Douglass owned a newspaper called The North Star, and in 1848 he wrote an open letter to his former owner in which he stated that 'I am your fellow man, but not your slave'.
Frederick Douglass would later be deemed the 19th Century's most photographed American, with more portraits than Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln.
Frederick Douglass wrote about photography during the Civil War - calling it a democratic art. He gave away his portraits at lectures and talks in an effort to change the perception of African Americans.
Frederick Douglass did not believe in celebrating Independence Day until slaves were all freed and certain laws that required runaway slaves to be returned to their owners were made void.
Frederick Douglass worked to have African Americans fight in the American Civil War. His own two sons joined the 54th Massachusetts Regiment.
In his later life Frederick Douglass served as a statesman and held highly appointed federal positions such as Recorder of Deeds and U.S. Marshall for D.C., and Consul General and Minister Resident to Haiti.
Frederick Douglass was nominated as VP to Victoria Woodhull for Presidential Candidate, but never acknowledged it.
After Anna died in 1882, Douglass remarried. His new wife was a white abolitionist from an abolitionist family but they disowned her anyway for the interracial marriage.
In 1848 Frederick Douglass attended the First Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY. He was the only African American in attendance.
Frederick Douglass met with his former owner Thomas Auld on Auld's deathbed and they reconciled.
Frederick Douglass died on February 20th, 1895, at his home shortly after receiving a standing ovation at a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C.


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