Frederick+Douglass

**__Frederick Douglass__**

- an american abolitionist, editor, orator, author, statesman, and reformer - Douglass ran as the vice presidential candidate on the Equal Rights Party ticket alongside Victoria Woodhull, the first female to run for President of the United States, in the 1872 election - 1833, Thomas Auld took Douglass back from his brother after a dispute ("as a means of punishing Hugh," Douglass wrote). Dissatisfied with him, Thomas Auld then sent Douglass to work for Edward Covey, a poor farmer who had a reputation as a "slave-breaker," where Douglass was whipped regularly - was a firm believer in the equality of all people, whether black, female, Native American, or recent immigrant. He was fond of saying, "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong." - was born a slave in Talbot County, Maryland, near Hillsboro - was separated from his mother, Harriet Bailey, when he was still an infant. She died when Douglass was about seven - father was a white man, perhaps his owner, Aaron Anthony - Douglass first unsuccessfully tried to escape from Mr. Freeman, who hired him out from his owner, Colonel Lloyd. In 1836, he tried to escape from his new owner, Covey, but failed again - He successfully escaped 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. He crossed the Susquehanna River by ferry at Havre de Grace, then continued by train to Wilmington, Delaware. From there he went by steamboat to "Quaker City" — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — and eventually reached New York; the whole journey took less than 24 hours. Douglass became officially free when British sympathizers paid the slaveholder who legally still owned him. - joined various organizations in New Bedford, Massachusetts, including a black church, and regularly attended abolitionist meetings - At one of these meetings, Douglass was unexpectedly asked to speak, and he told his story and was encouraged to become an anti-slavery lecturer - inspired by Garrison, later stating that "no face and form ever impressed me with such sentiments [of the hatred of slavery] as did those of William Lloyd Garrison." - delivered his first speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society's annual convention in Nantucket. Then 23 years old, Douglass later said that his legs were shaking. He conquered his nervousness and gave an eloquent speech about his rough life as a slave. - 1837 in Baltimore, Douglass met Anna Murray, a free African American. They married soon after he obtained his freedom - participated in the American Anti-Slavery Society's Hundred Conventions project, a six-month tour of meeting halls throughout the Eastern and Midwestern United States. He participated in the Seneca Falls Convention, the birthplace of the American feminist movement, and was a signatory of its Declaration of Sentiments - first autobiography, //Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave//, which was published in 1845 - Douglass merged the //North Star// with Gerrit Smith's //Liberty Party Paper// to form //Frederick Douglass' Paper//, which was published until 1860 - argued that the aim of the war was to end slavery and that African Americans should be allowed to engage in the fight for their freedom. Douglass publicized this in his newspapers and several speeches - President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves of the Confederacy while retaining the slaves in Union held areas. Douglass described the spirit of those awaiting the announcement: "We were waiting and listening as for a bolt from the sky...we were watching...by the dim light of the stars for the dawn of a new day...we were longing for the answer to the agonizing prayers of centuries." - fought for equality for his people - When he was hired out to a Mr. Freeman, Douglass taught slaves how to read the New Testament at a Sabbath school on the plantation. As word spread, the interest among slaves in the local community was extensive enough that on any week over 40 slaves would attend lessons. For about six months, their work went relatively unnoticed. While Freeman himself remained complacent about their activities, other plantation owners became incensed that their slaves had been offered such instruction, and burst in one Sunday armed with clubs and stones to disperse the congregation permanently