After escaping from slavery in Maryland in 1838, Douglass became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York and gained fame for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counterexample to claims by supporters of slavery that enslaved people lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been enslaved. It was in response to this disbelief that Douglass wrote his first autobiography.
Life and Career
Douglass wrote three autobiographies, describing his experiences as an enslaved person in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), which became a bestseller and was influential in promoting the cause of abolition, as was his second book, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). Following the Civil War, Douglass was an active campaigner for the rights of freed slaves and wrote his last autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. First published in 1881 and revised in 1892, three years before his death, the book covers his life up to those dates. Douglass also actively supported women's suffrage, and he held several public offices. Without his knowledge or consent, Douglass became the first African American nominated for vice president of the United States, as the running mate of Victoria Woodhull on the Equal Rights Party ticket.
Douglass believed in making alliances across racial and ideological divides, as well as in the anti-slavery interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, after he had broken with William Lloyd Garrison. When radical abolitionists, under the motto "No Union with Slaveholders", criticized Douglass's willingness to engage in dialogue with slave owners, he replied: "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."
Key Facts
- Born: February 14, 1818 in Cordova, Maryland, U.S.
- Died: 1895
- Field: Politics
Legacy and Impact
The influence of Frederick Douglass extends far beyond his own lifetime. He fundamentally shaped governance and political thought, and his leadership and political achievements remain foundational to this day.
Though he passed away in 1895, his ideas continue to be studied, debated, and built upon by scholars and practitioners worldwide.
Frederick Douglass remains one of the most celebrated minds to emerge from United States, a testament to the rich intellectual heritage of the region.
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