I | INTRODUCTION |
Frederick
Douglass (1817?-1895), the most prominent African American orator,
journalist, and antislavery leader of the 19th century. Douglass, an escaped
slave, campaigned for the end of slavery and published three versions of his
autobiography. In these works he described his experiences as a slave in the
South and as a fugitive in the North. He also depicted life as a free black
before the American Civil War (1861-1865) and his rise to national prominence
during and after the war. In later life he continued to work for full civil
rights for blacks and held several government positions.
II | EARLY LIFE |
Douglass, whose original name was Frederick
Augustus Bailey, was born in 1817 in Talbot County, Maryland. The child of a
slave, Harriet Bailey, and an unknown white man, Frederick also became a slave
because by law children followed the status of their mothers. He was separated
from his mother at a very early age and never knew her well. He initially lived
with his grandparents and then was placed under the care of a woman called Aunt
Katy, who raised slave children on the plantation of Colonel Edward Lloyd.
At the age of seven or eight, Frederick was
sent to Baltimore to the home of Hugh and Sophia Auld, who were relatives of his
master, Thomas Auld. Sophia Auld began to teach Frederick to read from the Bible
until her husband forbade such instruction. Frederick had already learned basic
literacy skills and secretly used books belonging to Sophia Auld's son to teach
himself. When he was about 13, he bought his first book, The Columbian
Orator. By studying this work, Frederick became convinced of the injustice
of slavery and the right of all people to be free. From the book he also learned
public speaking techniques that would later make him one of the greatest orators
of his age.
The Aulds found Frederick too independent, so
they sent him back to Thomas Auld. His master tried to force him to submit more
readily to slavery. When Frederick was about 17, Auld sent him to work for
Edward Covey, a 'slave breaker' who specialized in shattering the spirit of
rebellious slaves. Covey had Frederick beaten daily for the slightest violation
of impossibly strict rules. After nearly six months Frederick resisted Covey,
wrestling him to a draw in a fight. After that Covey never attempted to beat him
again. Frederick later described his conflict with Covey as “the turning point
of my 'life as a slave.'” Before the battle Frederick believed he was 'nothing,'
but after it, he emphatically wrote: 'I was a man now.'
Covey returned Frederick to Auld, who then
sent him back to Baltimore as an apprentice in a shipyard. He not only learned
the caulker’s trade, which involved making ships watertight, but he also learned
to write by tracing letters on the prows of these ships. In September 1838
Frederick obtained papers supplied by a free black seaman and, dressed as a
sailor just back from sea duty, took a train from Baltimore to New York.
Once in New York, Frederick made his way to
the home of David Ruggles, one of the leading black abolitionists in the nation.
Ruggles helped him decide on a new name—Frederick Johnson—and also helped him
contact his fiancée, Anna Murray, a free black from Baltimore. She arrived a few
days later and married Frederick. The couple went to New Bedford, Massachusetts,
where Frederick hoped to find work as ship's caulker. However, because of racial
discrimination, he was forced to work as common laborer. Frederick struggled to
provide for his wife, and nine months later, his first child. The couple
eventually had five children, including two sons who served in the United States
Army during the Civil War. While in New Bedford, Frederick also decided that his
surname, Johnson, was too common. He changed it to Douglass, the name of a
character in the poem The Lady of the Lake (1810) by Scottish writer Sir
Walter Scott.
III | ABOLITIONIST ORATOR |
Douglass began to read the antislavery weekly
The Liberator, published by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and soon
joined Garrison’s followers in New Bedford. In 1841 he attended the
Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society convention in Nantucket, where he was asked
to speak. Douglass related his experiences as a slave, and his passionate
address made such a profound impression that the society hired him as a
full-time agent. In this position, and later as an agent for the larger American
Anti-Slavery Society, he traveled throughout much of the North, speaking at
antislavery meetings, giving public lectures, and helping to recruit members for
the societies. He campaigned against slavery, but also for the civil rights of
free blacks. He spoke at several meetings that were broken up by white mobs, but
he continued to lecture as a strong antislavery advocate.
Douglass soon became the leading black
abolitionist and one of the most famous orators of the time. His eloquent words
about his treatment as a slave were a powerful weapon against slavery. But as
his oratory grew more polished, audiences began to question whether he had ever
been a slave. To dispel these doubts, he published his first autobiography,
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845). In this work he named
his former owners and described every aspect of his life under slavery.
Douglass, however, omitted details about his method of escape so as not to
jeopardize similar attempts by other slaves. His Narrative was one of the
most effective accounts written by a fugitive slave, and it became a major
source of information about slavery and a classic of American literature.
Douglass later wrote two more autobiographies: My Bondage and My Freedom
(1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881, revised
1892).
When Douglass published the details of his
life as a slave, he was in danger of recapture under the provisions of the
Fugitive Slave Laws, which allowed masters to seize runaway slaves and return
them to bondage. Because of his growing prominence, Douglass feared the Aulds
would send agents to capture him and return him to Maryland. Thus, in 1845
Douglass went abroad, and for two years he toured England and Ireland, speaking
against slavery. His oratory made as great an impression in Great Britain as it
had at home. In 1847, after British friends purchased his freedom, Douglass
returned to the United States.
IV | EDITOR AND JOURNALIST |
In October 1847 Douglass decided to start a
newspaper managed and edited solely by blacks to disprove the proslavery
argument that blacks were 'naturally inferior.' William Lloyd Garrison objected,
arguing that Douglass's talent as an orator would be wasted. Nevertheless,
Douglass moved to Rochester, New York, and began publishing a weekly called
The North Star. This publication later became Frederick Douglass’
Weekly and was followed by Douglass’ Monthly, which originated
as a supplement to the Weekly. Douglass published his newspapers almost
continuously from December 1847 through May 1863, and he quickly gained fame as
a journalist as well as an orator.
In his papers Douglass championed the rights
of free blacks and slaves and supported a number of other causes, most notably
women's rights. In 1848 Douglass participated in the first women's rights
convention, held at Seneca Falls, New York, and throughout his career he
advocated women's equality.
V | POLITICAL ABOLITIONIST |
Until he returned from Britain in 1847,
Douglass had supported the views of Garrison, who favored ending slavery through
'moral suasion,' or the force of moral opinion. Garrison also opposed any
political action that indicated acceptance of the Constitution of the United
States, which he and his followers considered an immoral, proslavery document.
In Britain and later in Rochester, however, Douglass met political
abolitionists, who believed that it was possible to use the political system to
fight slavery. They organized the antislavery Liberty Party, and called for the
election of abolitionists to public office. Garrison believed the North should
secede, if necessary, to free itself from the moral stain of slavery. In
contrast, Douglass became convinced that this course of action would only
abandon slaves to their masters. Garrison denounced Douglass as a traitor to the
cause, and the two men, once firm friends, drifted apart.
From 1848 through the 1850s, Douglass worked
closely with the Liberty Party. This group of abolitionists had broken off from
the American Anti-Slavery Society and demanded the total destruction of slavery.
But on occasion, Douglass also backed the larger Free-Soil and Republican
parties, which pledged only to prevent the extension of slavery to new
territories and states.
Douglass also rejected Garrison's philosophy
that slaves must not actively resist their oppression. Douglass believed in the
right of slaves to rebel and the right of fugitives to resist reenslavement. His
house in Rochester was a station on the Underground Railroad, a network of
antislavery activists who helped smuggle slaves from the South. He joined other
abolitionists in helping many of these runaway slaves to reach safety in Canada.
Douglass became a friend of American
abolitionist John Brown, who supported the use of armed force to help slaves
escape. Douglass, however, refused to join Brown in an attack planned on the
federal arsenal and armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in
1859. He warned Brown that seizing the armory would be considered an attack on
the U.S. government and could prove disastrous. After Brown was captured in the
raid, Douglass faced charges that he was an accomplice and fled the country to
avoid possible arrest for treason. He came back to the United States about six
months later, after furor over the incident had died down.
On his return, Douglass campaigned for Abraham
Lincoln during the presidential election of 1860. After the outbreak of the
Civil War, he urged Lincoln to expand his war aims beyond the stated goal of
preserving the Union. Douglass argued that slavery was the true cause of the
conflict and that the Union should make the abolition of slavery its primary
focus. Douglass also called for the Union Army to recruit slaves and free
blacks, and he helped to raise two regiments of black soldiers, the
Massachusetts 54th and 55th. His own sons, Frederick and Lewis, were among the
first volunteers for these all-black regiments. By the end of the war slightly
over 200,000 blacks had served in the U.S. Army and Navy. See also
African American History.
VI | POSTWAR REFORMER |
During Reconstruction (traditionally
1865-1877) when the United States tried to rebuild after the Civil War, Douglass
campaigned for suffrage and full civil rights for all blacks. He became a
leading spokesperson for improving the situation of former slaves. He also
worked for the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, which banned
slavery, made all people born in the United States citizens, and prohibited
racial discrimination in voting (see Constitution of the United States).
Most feminists opposed the 14th and 15th Amendments because they did not provide
voting rights for women. Douglass passionately argued that while women ought to
have the right to vote, black men needed the vote immediately to protect them
and their families from the political power of Southern whites. Douglass
continued his tireless effort to secure black rights, but he also actively
supported equal rights for women. In 1872 he was the vice-presidential candidate
on the Equal Rights Party slate headed by the feminist Victoria Claflin
Woodhull, the first woman ever to run for the presidency.
In 1872 Douglass moved to Washington, D.C.,
and increasingly became recognized as a leader of America's blacks. Douglass
remained loyal to the Republican Party, despite its declining commitment to
black causes after Reconstruction, but his own dedication to reform never
wavered. Douglass held several government posts, serving as U.S. marshal for the
District of Columbia (see Marshals Service) from 1877 to 1881 and as
recorder of deeds for the District until 1886. He continued his active role in
public service from 1889 to 1891 as U.S. minister to Haiti.
Controversy arose during the later years of
Douglass’s life. In 1882 his wife of 44 years died, and in January 1884 Douglass
married his white secretary, Helen Pitts. Some blacks, and many whites,
criticized him for marrying outside his race, but Douglass categorically
rejected the notion that his actions should be constrained by his skin color.
For him the marriage symbolized one more victory in his lifelong crusade against
racial discrimination.
At his death in 1895, Douglass had already
established his reputation as the foremost African American spokesperson of the
19th century as well as one of the nation’s most effective orators and
activists. Recognition of the scope of his achievements has grown since that
time. His three autobiographies are considered literary classics and provide
compelling testimony about slavery’s impact on those held in bondage. The story
of his struggle to obtain an education and to win his freedom illustrates his
remarkable personal strength and perseverance. These same characteristics also
contributed to his emergence as a prominent civil rights advocate and a leading
figure in other national reform movements of the era.
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