Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass: An Inspirational Entity
Written By: Trey Jones
Born as Frederick Augustus Washington, Frederick Douglass did not have the most auspicious childhood. Separated from his mother when only miniscule weeks old. He was born in a slave cabin, in February 1818, near the town of Easton, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. At about the age of six, his grandmother took him to the plantation of his master and left him there. When he was about eight he was sent to Baltimore to live as a houseboy with Hugh and Sophia Auld, who were relatives of his master. After his new mistress was restrained from expounding Douglass the alphabet, he took it upon himself to learn. Enduring some of the most daunting working conditions that plagued slaves during the 270 years of legalized slavery. After an aborted escape attempt when he was about eighteen, he was delivered back to Baltimore to live with the Auld family. He joined the East Baltimore Mental Improvement Society, which was a debate club of free African American men. Which was where he met Anna Murray. Douglass developed yet another ingenious plan to escape from slavery. He borrowed papers from an autonomous free African American and pretending to be a sailor. He arrived at New York and changed his last name to Johnson.
After he married Anna Murray on September 15, 1838 they moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts. Anna and Frederick lived with Mary and Nathan Johnson when suddenly Nathan suggests for Frederick to adopt the last name Douglas. This derives from a character in Sir Walter Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake. On June 24, 1839 his first daughter Rosetta was born. Emulating the birth of Rosetta was the birth of Lewis Henry, Frederick, and Charles Remond Douglass. Douglass was galvanized by William Lloyd Garrison and attends one of his speeches in April 1839. Ensuing Douglass’ speech at an antislavery meeting in New Bedford, Massachusetts, abolitionist William C. Coffin persuades him into speaking about his life as a slave at an Anti-Slavery Society convention in Massachusetts. The Anti-Slavery Society was flabbergasted by his speech and hired him as a speaker. Frederick Douglass always enjoyed living on the edge; especially when he published his narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass divulging details that could route to his arrest.
Frederick Douglass was not only an abolitionist of slavery, but he also became a speaker of women’s rights. The escaped slave Douglass toured Great Britain and Ireland haranguing on slavery with the other abolitionist Garrison. Douglass also gained many English friends who raised money to purchase his freedom. He was granted freedom after Hugh Auld received $711.16 in payment. Following his participation in the first women’s rights convention in New York, he began sheltering escaped slaves in the illustrious Underground Railroad. When the U.S. Supreme Court rules that African Americans are not U.S. citizens, Douglass becomes furious. Federal troops captured John Brown, who was working Douglass, attempting to start a slave insurrection and provide refuge for fleeing slaves. Douglass was forced to flee to Canada and then to a planned harangue tour of England to avoid the threatening grasp on charges of being an accomplice in Brown’s raid. Luckily, when Abraham Lincoln is elected president, and he returned to the U.S. and was not charged in the John Brown raid.
Douglass’ work paid off and Congress abolishes slavery in Washington, D.C. Douglass became a recruiter for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry (the first regiment of African-American soldiers). He meets with President Lincoln on August 10, 1863 to discuss the unequal pay and rude treatment black soldiers endured. In a meeting the next year between the same two men, Lincoln asks Douglass to be ready to assist slaves escaping to the North in case the Union failed. He never stopped treasuring every moment he had to fight for African American rights. After a mysterious fire demolishes his home in Rochester, he was forced to move his family to Washington, D.C. After Douglass had been pushing for the discrimination of African Americans to end, Congress passed a Civil Rights Act Prohibiting discrimination in public. Douglass’ wife Anna passed away after suffering a stroke. Two Years later he remarries a white woman who was his secretary. A very sorrowful ending of Douglass’ life came when he was speaking at a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington D.C. died suddenly that evening of heart failure while describing the meeting to his new wife.
Written By: Trey Jones
Born as Frederick Augustus Washington, Frederick Douglass did not have the most auspicious childhood. Separated from his mother when only miniscule weeks old. He was born in a slave cabin, in February 1818, near the town of Easton, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. At about the age of six, his grandmother took him to the plantation of his master and left him there. When he was about eight he was sent to Baltimore to live as a houseboy with Hugh and Sophia Auld, who were relatives of his master. After his new mistress was restrained from expounding Douglass the alphabet, he took it upon himself to learn. Enduring some of the most daunting working conditions that plagued slaves during the 270 years of legalized slavery. After an aborted escape attempt when he was about eighteen, he was delivered back to Baltimore to live with the Auld family. He joined the East Baltimore Mental Improvement Society, which was a debate club of free African American men. Which was where he met Anna Murray. Douglass developed yet another ingenious plan to escape from slavery. He borrowed papers from an autonomous free African American and pretending to be a sailor. He arrived at New York and changed his last name to Johnson.
After he married Anna Murray on September 15, 1838 they moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts. Anna and Frederick lived with Mary and Nathan Johnson when suddenly Nathan suggests for Frederick to adopt the last name Douglas. This derives from a character in Sir Walter Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake. On June 24, 1839 his first daughter Rosetta was born. Emulating the birth of Rosetta was the birth of Lewis Henry, Frederick, and Charles Remond Douglass. Douglass was galvanized by William Lloyd Garrison and attends one of his speeches in April 1839. Ensuing Douglass’ speech at an antislavery meeting in New Bedford, Massachusetts, abolitionist William C. Coffin persuades him into speaking about his life as a slave at an Anti-Slavery Society convention in Massachusetts. The Anti-Slavery Society was flabbergasted by his speech and hired him as a speaker. Frederick Douglass always enjoyed living on the edge; especially when he published his narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass divulging details that could route to his arrest.
Frederick Douglass was not only an abolitionist of slavery, but he also became a speaker of women’s rights. The escaped slave Douglass toured Great Britain and Ireland haranguing on slavery with the other abolitionist Garrison. Douglass also gained many English friends who raised money to purchase his freedom. He was granted freedom after Hugh Auld received $711.16 in payment. Following his participation in the first women’s rights convention in New York, he began sheltering escaped slaves in the illustrious Underground Railroad. When the U.S. Supreme Court rules that African Americans are not U.S. citizens, Douglass becomes furious. Federal troops captured John Brown, who was working Douglass, attempting to start a slave insurrection and provide refuge for fleeing slaves. Douglass was forced to flee to Canada and then to a planned harangue tour of England to avoid the threatening grasp on charges of being an accomplice in Brown’s raid. Luckily, when Abraham Lincoln is elected president, and he returned to the U.S. and was not charged in the John Brown raid.
Douglass’ work paid off and Congress abolishes slavery in Washington, D.C. Douglass became a recruiter for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry (the first regiment of African-American soldiers). He meets with President Lincoln on August 10, 1863 to discuss the unequal pay and rude treatment black soldiers endured. In a meeting the next year between the same two men, Lincoln asks Douglass to be ready to assist slaves escaping to the North in case the Union failed. He never stopped treasuring every moment he had to fight for African American rights. After a mysterious fire demolishes his home in Rochester, he was forced to move his family to Washington, D.C. After Douglass had been pushing for the discrimination of African Americans to end, Congress passed a Civil Rights Act Prohibiting discrimination in public. Douglass’ wife Anna passed away after suffering a stroke. Two Years later he remarries a white woman who was his secretary. A very sorrowful ending of Douglass’ life came when he was speaking at a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington D.C. died suddenly that evening of heart failure while describing the meeting to his new wife.