Frederick Douglass rose from slavery to become the leading African-American voice of the nineteenth century. At an early age, he realized that his ability to read was the key to freedom. All of his efforts from then on focused on achieving freedom. As a young man, he came into contact with black preachers and taught in the Sabbath School in Baltimore. Here he refined his reading, writing, and speaking skills.
At age twenty, Douglass escaped north to freedom. William Lloyd Garrison Frederick Douglass was a compelling force in the anti-slavery movement. A man of moral authority, Douglass developed into a charismatic public speaker. Prominent abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison recognized his oratory skill and hired him as a speaker for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. Wendell Phillips Douglass worked with many notable abolitionists of the nineteenth century including Wendell Phillips and Abby Kelley.
Douglass also had a close relationship with John Brown and his family but disagreed with Brown's violent tactics, dramatically displayed in Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry in With the abolishment of slavery at the close of the Civil War, Douglass then turned his attention to the full integration of the African-American into political and economic life of the United States.
Fredreick Douglass Douglass established his own weekly abolitionist newspaper, the North Star , that became a major voice of African-American opinion. His sons Lewis and Charles both served in this regiment and saw combat. It became an immediate bestseller, and within three years was reprinted nine times, translated into French and Dutch, and circulated across the United States and Europe.
Frederick Douglass , the father of the abolitionist movement, who advised Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson on the civil war and black suffrage, respectively, has provided our country with lessons that remain relevant and impactful to this day. Throughout his life, Douglass was steadfast in his commitment to break down barriers between the races.
Douglass will forever be remembered for his passionate work to ensure that America lived up to the ideals upon which it was founded, and guaranteed freedom and equality for all its people. He bought a printing press and ran his own newspaper, The North Star. In , he published his second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom , which expanded on his first autobiography and challenged racial segregation in the North.
Frederick Douglass standing in front of his house on Capitol Hill, ca. He later purchased and moved to the suburban estate in Anacostia that he named Cedar Hill. In , the nation erupted into civil war over the issue of slavery. Frederick Douglass worked tirelessly to make sure that emancipation would be one of the war's outcomes.
He recruited African-American men to fight in the U. Army, including two of his own sons, who served in the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. When black troops protested they were not receiving pay and treatment equal to that of white troops, Douglass met with President Abraham Lincoln to advocate on their behalf.
As the Civil War progressed and emancipation seemed imminent, Douglass intensified the fight for equal citizenship. He argued that freedom would be empty if former slaves were not guaranteed the rights and protections of American citizens. A series of postwar amendments sought to make some of these tremendous changes. The 13th Amendment ratified in abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment ratified in granted national birthright citizenship, and the 15th Amendment ratified in stated nobody could be denied voting rights on the basis of race, skin color, or previous servitude.
In , the Douglasses moved to Washington, D. There were multiple reasons for their move: Douglass had been traveling frequently to the area ever since the Civil War, all three of their sons already lived in the federal district, and the old family home in Rochester had burned.
A widely known public figure by the time of Reconstruction, Douglass started to hold prestigious offices, including assistant secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission, legislative council member of the D. Frederick Douglass as a statesman. Library of Congress Post-Reconstruction and Death.
After the fall of Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass managed to retain high-ranking federal appointments. He served under five presidents as U.
Marshal for D. Significantly, he held these positions at a time when violence and fraud severely restricted African-American political activism. On top of his federal work, Douglass kept a vigorous speaking tour schedule. His speeches continued to agitate for racial equality and women's rights. In , Douglass published his third autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass , which took a long view of his life's work, the nation's progress, and the work left to do.
Although the nation had made great strides during Reconstruction, there was still injustice and a basic lack of freedom for many Americans. Tragedy struck Douglass's life in when Anna died from a stroke. He remarried in to Helen Pitts , an activist and the daughter of former abolitionists. The marriage stirred controversy, as Helen was white and twenty years younger than him.
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