Name: Frederick Douglass
Rating: 4.4 (16 reviews)
Author: David W. Blight

Introduction

What’s in it for me? Discover the amazing life story of one of the most important Americans in history.

The name Frederick Douglass looms large in the history of the United States, and for good reason. Here was a man who was born a slave and yet rose to such prominence that he became a respected figure in Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Party. Indeed, few people spoke with such authority, clarity and eloquence on matters of civil rights and why America could not survive as long as slavery existed.

In these biographical blinks, we get to know how Frederick Douglass reached such stature in American politics and what made him the icon he is today. But they also delve into some of the more controversial aspects of Douglass’s life, including his falling-out with the leaders of the women's suffrage movement.

What remains undeniable is that Douglass set a high bar for the civil rights leaders who followed. He relayed to people around the world his first-hand account of the horrors of slavery, and yet he remained convinced that America could overcome this dark part of its history. His dream of a nation that would fulfill its promise of equality for all remains a guiding light for many people to this day.

In these blinks, you’ll find out

how Douglass secretly continued his education while a slave;
how a trip to Europe led to his legal freedom in the US; and
the tragic circumstances of his first wife’s death.

Key idea 1 of 9

Frederick Douglass moved to the city of Baltimore before escaping slavery.

The remarkable life of Frederick Douglass began on a Maryland farm, where he was born in February of 1818. The fact that his mother was a young slave working on the farm meant Douglass was born a slave as well.

Tragically, it was also common for mothers and their children to be separated, and when Douglass was just six years old, he was taken from his mother to work for his owner’s son-in-law, Thomas Auld.

Douglass moved again when he was eight years old, this time along with the Auld family as they relocated to the city of Baltimore, Maryland. This was an extremely fortunate move, since, as Douglass recognized, city slaves were treated almost like freemen compared to the inhuman hardships inflicted upon slaves in the countryside.

It was also fortunate that Sophia Auld, the sister-in-law of Thomas Auld, decided to raise Douglass as if he were one of her own children. This included lessons in reading and writing, at which he proved quite adept.

These lessons stopped once Thomas found out about them, but by then Douglass was literate enough to continue his own education. He secretly even paid local white vagrants for reading lessons, using bread as currency.

Baltimore was a special city, since, in addition to its 3,000 slaves, it also had 17,000 free black people, and this population left a lasting and transformative impression on Douglass.

Douglass’s own liberation began to take shape when he met Anna Murray, the free black woman who would one day be his wife. Together, they crafted a plan to free Douglas from servitude.

The plan was executed in August of 1838, when the 20-year-old Douglass disguised himself as a sailor and boarded three different trains and three different boats, finally arriving in New York City. It took less than a day, and though he was now a fugitive, he was also a free man – free to marry Anna Murray and move with her to New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Key idea 2 of 9

As a former slave in Massachusetts, Douglass quickly became a popular orator.

When Douglass began his new life in New Bedford, he found work as a day laborer to make ends meet. But it wasn’t long before his talents as an orator were being recognized at his local church.

As he continued to hone his skills as a public speaker, Douglass quickly became an in-demand preacher. Among his engagements were a number of abolitionist meetings, which is how he caught the attention of William Lloyd Garrison, the white editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, which Douglass greatly admired.

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Key idea 3 of 9

Douglass spent two years in the UK before returning home as a free man.

In 1845, Douglass followed up four years of constant touring and packed speaking engagements with the publication of his first autobiography. Given his already high profile, it was an instant bestseller.

However, with the heightened and detailed exposure that came with the book, Douglass and his friends began to fear for his safety. Perhaps most worrisome was the danger that his former master, Thomas Auld, might try to reclaim Douglass as his property, which he could still legally do.

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Key idea 4 of 9

In the 1850s, Douglass’s ideology continued to transform.

In 1850, abolitionists were dealt a blow when the US government passed the Fugitive Slave Act. It stated that all people in both southern and northern states must help authorities return any fugitive slaves to their owners. Anyone who refused to cooperate would be deemed a criminal.

While this was a step back in the fight to end slavery, the law’s passage also had the effect of radicalizing many abolitionists, including Douglass.

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Key idea 5 of 9

During the Civil War, Douglass clashed with Lincoln before they agreed upon the importance of ending slavery.

The raid on Harpers Ferry was just one of the many violent incidents in the struggle over slavery in the 1850s. But they were all minor in comparison to the drawn-out and brutal conflict of the American Civil War, which began in 1861. Douglass returned from Canada in the profound hope that the war would finally put an end to slavery once and for all.

While Douglass would form a famous relationship with President Abraham Lincoln over the course of the war, it didn’t start out so friendly.

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Key idea 6 of 9

During the Reconstruction period, Douglass worked within the political system to enact social change.

Since he’d played a significant role in helping Lincoln seize the opportunity to end slavery, Douglass saw himself as among the founding fathers of the reborn American state. What needed to be done now was to make sure that the war’s catastrophic cost in human suffering wasn’t in vain. And so he became a prominent voice in Lincoln’s Republican Party, a party to which he remained loyal for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately, many of those plans were jeopardized in 1865, when Lincoln was assassinated and his successor, Andrew Johnson, proved to be uninterested in bringing about a second American revolution.

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Key idea 7 of 9

As the Reconstruction period ended, Douglass continued his relentless campaign for equal rights.

By 1875, the war had been over for ten years, and in that time President Grant’s use of federal troops in the South had proven effective in silencing white supremacist terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

Indeed, it seemed as though progress toward equal rights was being made, and the future looked bright for racial harmony in the South – so much so that the nation’s leading abolitionist group was debating whether or not to disband. Douglass, as prescient as ever, cautioned against the disbanding. He was certain that there were still hardships ahead.

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Key idea 8 of 9

In a controversial move, Douglass abandoned women’s suffrage in order to pass the Fifteenth Amendment.

Frederick Douglass died on February 20, 1895, at his home in Washington, DC. He left behind a strong legacy that ensured he’ll forever be known as a major figure in the emancipation of black Americans. More controversial, however, are his efforts to help other marginalized groups.

For many years, Douglass used his voice to champion women’s rights and promote the suffrage movement. In fact, he was the only black representative, and one of the few men, to attend the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, which was the first women's rights convention in the US. He even signed and fully endorsed the declaration that emerged from the convention and continued to support the suffrage movement throughout the Civil War and in the years after.

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Key idea 9 of 9

Douglass’s romantic relationships were both traditional and controversial.

Over the course of his life, Douglass wrote three autobiographies, all of which became best sellers. But despite this, there still remain significant gaps in our knowledge about certain aspects of his life, especially regarding his first wife, Anna, and his other romantic relationships.

However, since the publication of those autobiographies, more documents have emerged to shed light on Douglass’s private life.

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Frederick Douglass summary