![]() ![]() ![]() While overseas, he was impressed by the relative freedom he had as a man of color, compared to what he had experienced in the United States. At the time, the former country was just entering the early stages of the Irish Potato Famine, or the Great Hunger. Later that same year, Douglass would travel to Ireland and Great Britain. He also noted, “Thus is slavery the enemy of both the slave and the slaveholder.” Frederick Douglass in Ireland and Great Britain In it Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he wrote: “From my earliest recollection, I date the entertainment of a deep conviction that slavery would not always be able to hold me within its foul embrace and in the darkest hours of my career in slavery, this living word of faith and spirit of hope departed not from me, but remained like ministering angels to cheer me through the gloom.” (He also authored My Bondage and My Freedom and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass). Two years later, Douglass published the first and most famous of his autobiographies, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass' Brown was caught and hanged for masterminding the attack, offering the following prophetic words as his final statement: “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” military arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, part of his attempt to establish a stronghold of formerly enslaved people in the mountains of Maryland and Virginia. ![]() ![]() In 1858, radical abolitionist John Brown stayed with Frederick Douglass in Rochester, New York, as he planned his raid on the U.S. The injuries never fully healed, and he never regained full use of his hand. In one particularly brutal attack, in Pendleton, Indiana, Douglass’ hand was broken. Douglass was physically assaulted several times during the tour by those opposed to the abolitionist movement. It was Garrison who encouraged Douglass to become a speaker and leader in the abolitionist movement.īy 1843, Douglass had become part of the American Anti-Slavery Society’s “Hundred Conventions” project, a six-month tour through the United States. The two men eventually met when both were asked to speak at an abolitionist meeting, during which Douglass shared his story of slavery and escape. During these meetings, he was exposed to the writings of abolitionist and journalist William Lloyd Garrison. In New Bedford, Douglass began attending meetings of the abolitionist movement. From Slavery to Abolitionist LeaderĪfter their marriage, the young couple moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where they met Nathan and Mary Johnson, a married couple who were born “free persons of color.” It was the Johnsons who inspired the couple to take the surname Douglass, after the character in the Sir Walter Scott poem, “The Lady of the Lake.” She joined him, and the two were married in September 1838. Once settled in New York, he sent for Anna Murray, a free Black woman from Baltimore he met while in captivity with the Aulds. From there he traveled through Delaware, another slave state, before arriving in New York and the safe house of abolitionist David Ruggles. Roughly 16 at this time, Douglass was regularly whipped by Covey.Īfter several failed attempts at escape, Douglass finally left Covey’s farm in 1838, first boarding a train to Havre de Grace, Maryland. By the time he was hired out to work under William Freeland, he was teaching other enslaved people to read using the Bible.Īs word spread of his efforts to educate fellow enslaved people, Thomas Auld took him back and transferred him to Edward Covey, a farmer who was known for his brutal treatment of the enslaved people in his charge. With that foundation, Douglass then taught himself to read and write. Douglass credits Hugh’s wife Sophia with first teaching him the alphabet. However, at the age of six, he was moved away from her to live and work on the Wye House plantation in Maryland.įrom there, Douglass was “given” to Lucretia Auld, whose husband, Thomas, sent him to work with his brother Hugh in Baltimore. His full name at birth was “Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey.”Īfter he was separated from his mother as an infant, Douglass lived for a time with his maternal grandmother, Betty Bailey. He was actually born Frederick Bailey (his mother’s name), and took the name Douglass only after he escaped. His mother was an enslaved Black women and his father was white and of European descent. Douglass himself was never sure of his exact birth date. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in or around 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland. ![]()
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