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BIOGRAPHY: FREDERICK DOUGLASS

50 minutes.

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1817, in Maryland. His father was white, his mother was part American Indian. He was taught to read as a household servant but at age 16 was sent out to work as a field hand. In 1836 he was apprenticed to a shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland, but he escaped (1838) and settled in Massachusetts, where he assumed the name by which he became known.

After he made a speech before the Massachusetts Anti- Slavery Society (1841), Douglass was hired as an agent and he lectured throughout the North. Because his intelligence and speaking abilities led some to question whether he had been a slave, he published NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AN AMERICAN SLAVE (1845). The reactions to his controversial book made him fear for his freedom, and he fled to England where he lectured with such effect that the British contributed a generous sum of money that, together with money contributed by Americans, helped him buy his freedom when he returned to the United States (1847).

Upon returning, Douglass went to Rochester, New York, where he co-founded NORTH STAR, a newspaper that served as a forum not only for abolitionist views, but also supported the feminist movement and the emancipation of other oppressed groups. He never wavered as the leading voice of African-Americans' call for freedom and equality. During the Civil War he urged President Lincoln to emancipate the slaves, and he helped recruit African-American troops. After the war he held a series of government posts, including assistant secretary to the Santo Domingo Commission, marshal of the District of Columbia (1877-81), district recorder of deeds (1881-6), and ambassador to Haiti (1889-91). In 1881 he issued a final revision of his autobiography as LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

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