Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass would eventually become a world-renowned activist and leading voice in the abolitionist movement. Douglass spent his early years as a slave for various households in Maryland, having been sold multiple times by one slaveholder to another.
One of the families that owned Douglass made him responsible for watching their younger son. As the boy’s mother taught her child to read, Douglass learned too, until the mother’s husband found out and forbid his slave from being educated. Douglass continued to teach himself in secret and would eventually become a brilliant orator and writer, publishing three autobiographies.
At age twenty, Douglass escaped to the north, settling in Massachusetts. During his time there, he became increasingly vocal in his passionate calls for abolition. He became an important voice for the American Anti-Slavery Society and was a proponent of their commitment to the philosophy of “moral suasion” which believed slavery was a moral wrong that should be resisted through nonviolent means.
As Douglass became more known in the anti-slavery movement, his status as an escaped slave became more worrying. He moved to England as a precaution, where he continued speaking out against slavery. Eventually, he would earn enough to purchase his freedom and return to the United States in 1847, settling in Rochester, New York.
It was in Rochester where Douglass made what is regarded as one of the most important speeches during the abolition movement prior to the Civil War. Speaking at an Independence Day celebration, Douglass exclaimed:
“This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? A day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim.”
Douglass had catapulted to fame, recognized as perhaps the most famous Black man in the world as the Civil War era drew closer. Douglass would meet with Abraham Lincoln three times in the White House. Douglass was at first critical of Lincoln but would come to see him as the Black man’s president: the first to show any respect for their rights as men.”
As the Civil War raged, Douglass continued advocating for the rights of Black Union Army soldiers, who were paid less than their white counterparts and prone to torture and worse treatment when held as Confederate prisoners of war. Still, he was an advocate for black men joining the Union army (two of his sons fought with a regiment from Massachusetts).
In his later years, after having moved to Washington DC, Douglass would serve in various positions upon appointments was US Presidents Hayes, Garfield and Harrison. He continued his advocacy for African Americans and served on the board of Howard University. Douglass was widely considered the most photographed American man of the 19th century.
Douglass’ contributions to African American and American history are still acknowledged nearly one hundred and thirty years following his death on February 20, 1895. The month of February as African American History month in the United States was chosen as it represents the birthday and passing of one of the most important African Americans in the history of the United Sates.
To read Douglass’ famous Independence Day speech, click here:
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july-2/
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Sources:
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture –
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/frederick-douglass
Trent, Noelle. “Frederick Douglass”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Dec. 2023 –
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-Douglass. Accessed 13 February 2024.
Evans, Farrell. “Abraham Lincoln and Fredick Douglass” –
https://www.history.com/news/abraham-lincoln-frederick-douglass-relation