Frederick Douglass
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...
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