Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Dates

• Existence: 1818 - 1895

Biography

Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey) was believed to be born sometime in February of 1817. Douglass was separated from his mother at an early age, and his maternal grandmother, Betsey Bailey, was tasked with the responsibility of raising Douglass.

In his early adolescence, Frederick Douglass was hired out by his enslaver, forcing Douglass to work on the Baltimore harbor as a caulker. While working on the harbor, he met Anna Murray, a free Black woman, who was also working on the Baltimore harbor as a laundress. Douglass credits Anna (later his first wife) with successfully aiding him to freedom in 1838. Murray offered Douglass part of her savings to cover his travel costs to New York, where the couple reunited and married on September 15, 1838. The couple’s union produced five children: Rosetta Douglass-Sprague, Lewis Henry Douglass, Frederick Douglass, Jr., Charles Remond Douglass, and Annie Douglass.

In 1845, Douglass published Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, an autobiography detailing his life as a former slave. The authenticity of Douglass’ work was questioned and often received scrutiny, but Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass became a popular anti-slavery text. Douglass went on to publish My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881).

Douglass’ career as a social reformer spanned several decades. In addition to being an outspoken abolitionist, Douglass also lent his support to the cause of women’s rights. Most notably, in 1848, Douglass attended the Seneca Falls Convention, the first woman’s rights convention. Douglass was an ardent supporter of abolition and securing political rights for free Blacks. He operated an anti-slavery newspaper, The North Star, which eventually merged with another newspaper and became Frederick Douglass’ Newspaper. Douglass was a frequent participant, and leader, within the Colored Convention Movement, a group composed of free(d) Black leaders, mostly men, who organized themselves around the pressing issues affecting the African Americans of the antebellum and pre-Civil War period.

In the years after the abolition of slavery, Frederick Douglass received several appointments by the federal government, thus prompting Douglass to relocate from Rochester to Washington, D.C. In 1874, Douglass was named the President of the Freedman’s Savings Bank but the bank closed several months later in July of 1874. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as United States Marshal for D.C. in 1877. Douglass later served as consul to Haiti and diplomat to Santo Domingo in 1889.

Frederick Douglass died on February 20, 1895, at approximately 77 years old. He was buried next to his first wife, Anna, at their family’s plot in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York. Douglass’ estate, Cedar Hill, located in the Anacostia section of Washington, D.C. was named a historic landmark in 1988 and was maintained for several decades after the death of his second wife Helen Pitts by the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs.

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