Fredrick Douglass: A Brief Biography

Fredrick Douglass formerly known as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was a very important African American human rights leader in the United States during the 19th century. During his lifespan, Fredrick Douglass made a name for himself with his support of the anti-slavery movement and gained world-renowned fame because of his inspiring speeches of past experiences and important autobiographies. Fredrick Douglass was born into a family of slavery during February of 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland; he grew up on a plantation that his father, a slave owner controlled with his mother, who was a slave named Harriet Bailey who later passed away when he was around the young age of 10.
Douglass' life growing up on a plantation was never an easy one, often having to eat small rations of food and sleep in cold, harsh
conditions was not an uncommon thing that he had to face. After the death of his father, the plantation owner, Fredrick Douglass bounced from plantation to plantation for the next few years of his life. In this time period he had to deal with many kinds of owners and people along the way, many of who were harsh and specifically wanted to “break the will of slaves”. Douglass stayed strong throughout this time and eventually moves to another plantation where he is able to begin a job at the shipyard and later saves up enough funds to escape to New York at the age of 20.
After his escape to freedom, Douglass meets and joins a group of abolitionists that have a quickly growing circle in New York, these men spoke at conferences and gathering in order to fight for African American rights and make a real difference.
Over the time Douglass spends with this group he eventually and slowly begins to open up and speak on his past experiences with his group of friends. His inspiring stories quickly began to gain the attention of fellow leaders, specifically naming William Lloyd Garrison, writer of an abolitionist newspaper known as The Liberator who takes a keen interest on Douglass’ life and his past experiences.
Garrison, impressed with Douglass' skill and impressive stories mentioned his support and mentioned Douglass in his famous newspaper, promoting Douglass and his great orator skills. Days later Douglass was asked to speak at an annual anti-slavery convention in Nantucket that was the start of him being one of the most influential figures in the abolitionist movement that we still remember today. Garrison soon after officially takes Fredrick Douglass under his wing and urges him to begin writing about his life and
hardships.
Fredrick Douglass wrote his autobiography known as the Narrative in 1845 that soon after created a great response from the public, after its publication the book quickly sold and Douglass’ life was becoming a bestseller. At this time, Douglass was still not a freed slave. This caused him to fear for his safety and well-being, and forced him to make the decision to move to England for the next two years. Douglass’ time in Europe was spent “touring” and promoting human rights that led him to because widely liked and supported throughout the land.
In 1847, Fredrick Douglass returned to the United States as a free man. This was the result of his immense popularity among friends in England who agreed to collect money in order to gain his freedom in the United States. After his return, Douglass proceeded to create and publish abolitionist newspapers famously known as The North Star, Frederick Douglass' Paper, and The Douglass Monthly. A few years later, around 1850, Fredrick Douglass breaks away from Garrison, his mentor, after a disagreement on approaching abolition and begins to form international fame.
Frederick Douglass never gave up on his dream for equal human rights and continued his work without stop. Four years later in 1855, Douglass publishes his second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom and then decides to continue his work and helps with the escape of runaway slaves using the Underground Railroad in order for them to eventually find freedom and make a life for themselves. His brave acts catch the attention of John Brown, another mentor figure, who he assisted in a slave revolts the time but later refused to help with the raid on Harper's Ferry because his lack of belief in “violence for change”.
1861 was the start of the Civil War. Fredrick Douglass accepted the war as a way to finally end slavery, and because his entire goal was to help improve the treatment of African Americans during this time, he saw the war as a way to put a stop to the malicious treatment once and for all. During the war, Fredrick Douglass served as an advisory to Abraham Lincoln and convinced the slaves should help aid union forces, with the approval he helped recruit his fellow African Americans to fight and serve the Union Army that they eventually won.
Although they won the war, equal rights was still far away from being put in place so Douglass continued with his fight for rights of African Americans and helped with the suffrage movement of women. Throughout this time period he moved to Washington DC, and purchased Cedar Hill in 1872 and soon after becomes a federal marshal and recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia in 1881, accomplishing a successful job as an African American after years and years of hard work and surviving slavery.
In Fredrick Douglass' later life he married Helen Pitts in 1844 and together they traveled around the world as he continued to speak for oppressed people and championed for human rights. For a short period of time he was appointed as consul general and appointed minister in Haiti but soon after resigns his position and moves back to DC in 1891 to continue his life. Douglass eventually passes away on February of 1895 after attending a women's rights meeting after a heart attack or stroke and was buried in New York. Fredrick Douglass' legend will forever go down in history as one of the nation’s greatest orator and abolitionist.