Fedric+D!

was an [|American] [|abolitionist], [|editor], [|orator], [|author], [|statesman] __and__ [|reformer] was born a [|slave] in [|Talbot County], [|Maryland], near [|Hillsboro]. He was separated from his mother, Harriet Bailey, when he was still an infant. She died when Douglass was about seven. The identity of his father is obscure Douglass originally stated that his father was a [|white man], perhaps his owner, Aaron Anthony; but he later said he knew nothing of his father's identity When Douglass was about twelve, Hugh Auld's wife, Sophia, broke the law by teaching him some letters of the alphabet In later years, Douglass would credit //[|The Columbian Orator]//, which he discovered at age around twelve, with clarifying and defining his views of freedom and human rights.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 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 Douglass joined various organizations in [|New Bedford], [|Massachusetts], including a [|black church], and regularly attended abolitionist meetings. He subscribed to [|William Lloyd Garrison]'s weekly journal, //[|The Liberator]//, and in 1841 heard Garrison speak at a meeting of the Bristol Anti-Slavery Society. 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. Several days later, Douglass 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.In 1843, Douglass 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]