Welcome to the life of Frederick Douglass.
Childhood
Frederick Bailey was born a slave in Talbot County,
Maryland in 1818, though he didn't know it. He never knew his
father, except that he was white, and his mother died when
he was 7. Along with most other slave children in the area he
was raised by one family, which happened to be his
grandparents. In 1824, when he was five, he was taken to a
plantation to work as a house-slave. Slaves were usually
given eight lbs. Of fish or pork, a pint of salt, and a bushel
of cornmeal a month. At the beginning of each year they
were given two coarse shirts, one rough jacket, one pair of
heavy trousers, one pair of socks, and one pair of shoes.
When Frederick got older he and a few other slaves hoped to
escape from a plantation on a boat, but someone told the
plantation owner about their plan and they were caught.
Adulthood
When he finally escaped he rode three trains, three
ferries, and one steamboat. Frederick had to borrow
Seamen's Papers from a friend, so he could 'prove' he wasn't
a slave. While he was in New York, he changed his surname
from Bailey to Johnson to prevent slave catchers from
catching him. But there were to many people with the last
name Johnson, so he changed his surname from Johnson to
Douglass. While his last name was Johnson he married Anna
Murray on September 15,1838.
You can do
anything
you want
when you
set your
mind to it!
In 1845 he wrote an autobiography, The
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,
An American Slave. Frederick wrote under his
slave name, Frederick Bailey. He was in danger
of being caught, so he moved to England.
Some friends in England bought his slave
papers some time between 1845 and 1847, now
Frederick Douglass was free and he could go
back to America. In 1847 he started his own
newspaper, "The North Star," or as it was
later renamed "Frederick Douglass' Paper". He
was an important speaker against slavery and
for Women's Rights, a conductor on the
Underground Railroad, recruited people for
the first black army unit, and wrote My
Bondage, My Freedom in 1855 and The Life and
Times of Frederick Douglass in 1881. In 1882
Anna Douglass died. Two years later he
married Helen Pitts, a white woman. On
February 20, 1895 Frederick died of a heart
attack. ThEsE ARE THE REASONs why I chose
Frederick Douglass to do my report on.
Anna Douglass