Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass was born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in February 1818. He was born on a farm on Lewiston Road, Tuckahoe, near Easton, in Talbot County, Maryland. Frederick was the son of an unknown white father, and Harriet Bailey, a slave who was a part African and Native American. Frederick was born a slave on the great plantation owned by the Lloyd family. At times, they referred to him as Frederick Lloyd. When he was eight years old, he was separated from his mother and never saw her again. As a child, Frederick was legally classified as real estate or property rather than as a human being. He experienced much neglect and cruel treatment, and hard work brought on by the tyranny toward slaves. Resistance by slaves usually resulted in even more cruel treatment. However, in Frederick’s case it paid off. By fighting back toward his cruel master, Colonel Lloyd, and following a failed escape attempt, he was sent to Baltimore as a house servant at the age of eight. In Baltimore he learned to read and write with the assistance of his mistress, although was mostly self-taught. Having now learned to read and write he soon began to conceive of his freedom. Frederick was fortunate in that the Lloyd family often would severely whip slaves who were hard to manage or who tried to escape, then sent them to Baltimore, only to be sold to a slave trader, as a warning to all other slaves. Upon the death of his master, Frederick was returned to the country as a field hand. Here, he conspired with six other fellow slaves to escape. Their plan a failure, and betrayed by another, he was placed in jail. His new master, being a tolerant sort, arranged for his release from jail and returned him to Baltimore. Again, in Baltimore, Frederick learned the trade of a ship carpenter, and in time, was permitted to hire his own men. On September 3, 1838, Frederick made another escape attempt, and this time was successful. He traveled to New York, changed his last name to Douglass, and married a free black woman named Anne Murray, whom he had met in Baltimore earlier. Together they moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Frederick worked as a laborer. In search of a new career, Frederick read Garrison’s Liberator, and in 1841 attended a convention of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in Nantucket. One of the attending abolitionists overheard Douglass speaking with some of his black friends. Impressed, this man asked Douglass to speak at the convention. Although reluctant, he did so, and although he stammered, his speech had a remarkable effect. As a result, and to his surprise, they immediately employed him as an agent to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, and a new career was born. In his new position, he participated in the Rhode Island campaign against the new constitution that proposed the disfranchisement of blacks, which denied them the right of citizenship and the vote. He was the main figure in the famous "One-Hundred … [Read more...]
