Civil Rights & Activism

Frederick Douglass

Born c. February 1818 · Talbot County, Maryland · Joined the Ancestors February 20, 1895

Born into slavery, Frederick Douglass taught himself to read and became the most powerful orator and abolitionist of the 19th century — proof that freedom is not given but seized.

Known For

Abolitionist, orator, author

Key Work

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Legacy

Most photographed American of the 19th century

Frederick Douglass was born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey on a plantation in Talbot County, Maryland. Separated from his mother as an infant, he endured the brutality of slavery before secretly teaching himself to read — an act that would change the course of American history.

In 1838, he escaped to the North disguised as a sailor. Within years, he became the most electrifying voice of the abolitionist movement, delivering speeches of such power that audiences could not believe he had ever been enslaved. His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, published in 1845, became an international bestseller.

Douglass advised President Abraham Lincoln on emancipation, recruited Black soldiers for the Union Army, and fought for women's suffrage alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. He served as U.S. Marshal and Minister to Haiti, and remained a tireless champion of human rights until his death in 1895.