An African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counterexample to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Likewise, Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave.
Born, Feb, 1817
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Dressed as a sailor, Frederick Bailey stepped ashore a free man, but he was not safe until the great abolitionist David Ruggles took him into his home. In 1838, New York was crawling with slave catchers. Within days, Frederick sent for his fiancée, married, and moved to a safer city. Then he changed his name to Frederick Douglass.
Frederick Douglass was not only self-emancipated, he was self-educated too. As a boy, he started learning the alphabet on his own, which horrified his master. Reading and writing would make the boy unfit to be a slave. Thus, young Frederick grasped the importance of learning to read, and he began trading bread with poor white kids for lessons. He saved money to buy a book about freedom and liberty. He read secretly and learned how to write and speak well—very well.
Black Heritage Trail New York City,Dressed as a sailor, Frederick Bailey stepped ashore a free man at 199 Chamber St, but he was not safe until the great abolitionist David Ruggles took him into his home. In 1838, New York was crawling with slave catchers. Within days, Frederick sent for his fiancée, married, and moved to a safer city. Then he changed his name to Frederick Douglass.Frederick Douglass was not only self-emancipated, he was self-educated too. As a boy, he started learning the alphabet on his own, which horrified his master. Reading and writing would make the boy unfit to be a slave. Thus, young Frederick grasped the importance of learning to read, and he began trading bread with poor white kids for lessons. He saved money to buy a book about freedom and liberty. He read secretly and learned how to write and speak well—very well.
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David Ruggles,David Ruggles claimed to have led more than 600 fugitive slaves to freedom in the North, including Frederick Douglass, who became a friend and fellow activist.