FEBRUARY
Prince George’s County Public Schools • www.pgcps.org
February 2007
HISTORY CLIPS
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass
Know your past and present - understand your future
Frederick Douglass
1818-1895
Frederick Douglass (February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American abolitionist, editor, orator, author, statesman
and reformer. Called “The Sage of Anacostia” and “The Lion of Anacostia,” Douglass was one of the most prominent figures of
African-American history during his time, and one of the most influential lecturers and authors in American history.
Early life
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, who later became known as Frederick Douglass, was born a slave in Talbot County,
Maryland near Hillsboro. When Douglass was about twelve, his master’s wife, Sophia Auld, broke the law by teaching
Douglass some letters of the alphabet. Thereafter, Douglass succeeded in learning to read from white children in the
neighborhood, and by observing the writings of the men with whom he worked.
In 1837, Douglass met Anna Murray, a free African-American, in Baltimore while he was still held in slavery. They were
married soon after he obtained his freedom; Douglass escaped slavery on September 3, 1838 boarding a train to Havre
de Grace, Maryland dressed in a sailor’s uniform and carrying identification papers provided by a free black seaman. After
crossing the Susquehanna River by ferry boat at Havre de Grace, Douglass continued by train to Wilmington, Delaware. From there, Douglass went by steamboat to
“Quaker City”—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His escape to freedom eventually led him to New York, the entire journey taking less than twenty-four hours.
Career
Abolitionist activities
Douglass joined various organizations, and regularly attended Abolitionist meetings. Douglass was inspired by William Lloyd Garrison, later stating, “no face and
form ever impressed me with such sentiments (the hatred of slavery) as did those of William Lloyd Garrison.” At twenty-three years old, Douglass gave his first
speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society’s annual convention in Nantucket. In 1843, Douglass participated in the American Anti-Slavery Society’s Hundred
Conventions project. He participated in the Seneca Falls Convention, and was a signatory of its Declaration of Sentiments. Douglass later became the publisher of
a series of newspapers, one of which was the North Star. Its motto was “Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color--God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren”.
Douglass’ work spanned the years prior to and during the Civil War. He was acquainted with the radical abolitionist Captain John Brown but did not approve of
Brown’s plan to start an armed slave revolt. However, Brown visited Douglass’ home for several days shortly before the Harpers Ferry incident, in which Brown
attacked the federal Arsenal there. After the incident, Douglass fled for a time to Canada, fearing he might be arrested as a co-conspirator.
Douglass conferred with President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 on the treatment of black soldiers, and with President Andrew Johnson on the subject of black suffrage.
Autobiography
Douglass’ most well-known work is his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which was published in 1845. Critics frequently
attacked the book as inauthentic, not believing that a black man could possibly have produced so eloquent a piece of literature. The book was an immediate
best-seller, and within three years of its publication, it had been reprinted nine times with 11,000 copies circulating in the United States.
Reconstruction era
After the Civil War, Douglass held several important political positions, including: President of the Reconstruction-era Freedman’s Savings Bank; marshal of the
District of Columbia; and minister-resident and consul-general to the Republic of Haiti (1889–1891). In 1868, Douglass supported the presidential campaign of
Ulysses S. Grant. The Klan Act and the Enforcement Act were signed into law by President Grant. Grant used their provisions vigorously, suspending habeas corpus
in South Carolina and sending troops there and into other states; under his leadership, over 5,000 arrests were made and the Ku Klux Klan was dealt a serious blow.
Grant’s vigor in disrupting the Klan made him unpopular among many whites, but Frederick Douglass praised him.
In 1872, Douglass became the first African-American to be nominated for Vice President of the United States, on the Equal Rights Party ticket, without his knowledge.
Later life
In 1877, Frederick Douglass purchased his final home in Washington D.C., on the banks of the Anacostia River. He named it Cedar Hill. The home is now the location
of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.
In 1877, Douglass was appointed a United States Marshal. In 1881, he was appointed Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia. His wife, Anna, died in 1882.
In 1884, Douglass married Helen Pitts, a white feminist from Honeoye, New York. Frederick and Helen Pitts Douglass faced a storm of controversy as a result of their
marriage, since she was a white woman and nearly 20 years younger than he. But individualist feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton congratulated the two.
Death
On February 20, 1895, Douglass attended a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C. During that meeting, he was brought to the platform
and given a standing ovation by the audience. Shortly after returning home, he died of a massive heart attack or stroke. He is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in
Rochester, NY.
BOARD OF EDUCATION: R. Owen Johnson, Jr., Chair • Verjeana M. Jacobs, Esq., Vice Chair • Donna Hathaway Beck • Pat J. Fletcher • Heather Iliff • Rosalind A. Johnson
Linda Thornton Thomas • Nathaniel B. Thomas • Ron L. Watson, Ph.D. • Leslie D. Hall, Student Member • John E. Deasy, Ph.D., Superintendent of Schools and Secretary/Treasurer
OFFICE OF PUBLICITY AND PUBLICATIONS: Birgitt Brevard, Design and Publication Specialist • Ann Tayman, Design and Publication Editor