In 1817 or 1818, in rural Maryland, a female slave gave birth to a son who had been sired, most probably, by her wealthy owner and "master." That boy grew up to manifest superior intelligence and to commit many clearly illegal acts such as learning to read, and such as planning and executing escapes to freedom for himself and others. Although lacking formal education, he became a distinguished citizen and diplomat. He was a well-known, quick-witted writer and powerful lecturer, who used vivid imagery from his own experience to describe the horrors of racism and slavery, and recruited Negro volunteers during the Civil War; and he was an active spokesperson for the oppressed, who was instrumental in safeguarding and preserving the rights of his fellow freed men. He was a newspaper publisher, a United States marshal and recorder of deeds, secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission, and consul-general to the Republic of Haiti. This amazing human being was Frederick Douglass. He was barely into his twenties when he fled to freedom in 1838. He chose his surname, to hide his true identity, from a fictional character in "The Lady of the Lake" by Sir Walter Scott. Prior to his escape, he had labored as both a field slave and a house servant. He had almost no opportunity to learn to know his mother, Harriet Bailey, who would walk 12 miles to see him whenever she could, he having been put into the care of his grandmother. Because his mother used to call him her "little valentine," he adopted February 14th as his birthday. He later said that when, at seven or eight years of age, he was told of his mother's death, it made very little more impression on him than the death of a stranger would have. By that time, he had been sent to Baltimore to work as a houseboy in the household of a relative of his owner. For a while, there, he did not have to eat cornmeal mush from a trough, "like so many pigs"; or compete with his master's dogs for table scraps and bones. He also learned the rudiments of reading and writing from the lady of the house until her husband discovered this perfidy and ordered her to stop. Douglass continued his studies secretly, on his own. Running errands and shining shoes earned him a little money, with which he bought a copy of "The Columbian Orator," a collection of speeches and essays dealing with liberty, democracy, and courage. When he was about 14, he was sent to work as a field hand in a brutal plantation environment. Four years later, he and some others attempted a revolt, but were betrayed and thwarted. Viewed as a "bad slave," he was next sent to a "slave breaker," who used a whip immoderately, even for those times. Finally, one day when he was being tied to a post to be whipped, something snapped and he fought back. But instead of being killed, he was eventually sent back to Baltimore. Here, he became skilled at working as a caulker in a shipyard. Here, he met with a group of educated free blacks and once again reveled in becoming a student. And here, he met the woman who would later become his wife a free, African-American woman named Anna Murray. She encouraged him, and on September 3, 1838, masquerading as a free sailor, he managed to travel by train to New York City without being discovered or at least without being betrayed. (He thought that at least one person recognized him, but chose to say nothing.) In New York, an Abolitionist named David Ruggles sheltered him until Anna Murray could get there, then helped them with their arrangements. They were married on September 15, and moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts. Their first child, a daughter they named Rosetta, was born the following year, and their son Lewis the year after that. Two more boys were born to them later, and then another little girl. Frederick Douglass later wrote an account of the enormous thrill he felt the first time he was actually paid for doing some work and didn't have to turn the money over to anyone else. Another epiphany came when he became acquainted with William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper, "The Liberator." "The paper became my meat and drink," wrote Douglass. "My soul was set all on fire." At the August 1841 meeting of the Massachusetts branch of the American Antislavery Society, he was called upon to speak. He stood up and told his story, calling on skills that had been honed in a secret debating club called the East Baltimore Mental Improvement Society. His deep, rich, melodious voice, his dignified and graceful bearing, and his powerful narrative and flair for the dramatic were so compelling that he was immediately urged to become an Anti-Slavery lecturer. He was a great success on the lecture circuit, with his flashing eyes, large mass of hair, and tall, upright figure. He was often introduced as "a piece of property" or "a graduate from that peculiar institution, with his diploma written on his back." It was still nearly two decades before the outbreak of the War Between the States when in 1845, his freedom jeopardized by the publishing of "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" (written specifically to answer critics who could not believe that a man so eloquent could ever have been a slave), he had to leave the country or risk being taken back into bondage. He went to England and returned to America two years later, in 1847, after legally purchasing his own freedom for $710.96, thanks to British friends and admirers. He then moved to Rochester, New York, and began a new career as the publisher of a newspaper, the "North Star." Under a masthead that proclaimed, "Right is of no sex -- Truth is of no color -- God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren," he spoke out against abuses of all sorts. Also, after about 1850, his printshop became an important station on the "Underground Railroad," and Frederick Douglass became the superintendent of the entire system in his area. During the War, Douglass served as an adviser to President Abraham Lincoln. He strongly encouraged the president to make freedom for all slaves a basic national issue. As the War drew to an end and the Confederates retreated, the former slave visited Maryland again. He lectured in Baltimore, and was reunited with his sister Eliza for the first time in three decades. She had worked diligently and bought freedom for herself and her nine children. Back in the District of Columbia, Douglass heard Lincoln's second inaugural address with great joy. Disappointment quickly followed, though, as he was refused admission to the evening reception in the White House. But Lincoln saved the day: When Douglass got word to him, he was quickly ushered in to the ceremony and greeted personally by Lincoln, who said for all to hear, "Here comes my friend Douglass." On July 5, 1852, he delivered his supremely powerful speech, explaining that slaves in particular, and African Americans in general, found it impossible to participate in Fourth of July celebrations. His first wife died in 1886, and a year and a half later, he married Helen Pitts, a white woman who had been educated at Mount Holyoke Seminary. Although the marriage caused considerable controversy, it was happy, and Douglass's prestige was not appreciably diminished. In 1894, just a year before his death at or about the age of 77, he gave his last address. In it, he denounced the appalling increase of lynchings in the South. He once wrote, "The real question, the all-commanding question, is whether American justice, American liberty, American civilization, American law, and American Christianity can be made to include and protect alike and forever all American citizens. . ." The life of Frederick Douglass is a narrative of the triumph of dignity, courage, and self-reliance over the evils of the brutal, degrading slave system. His stirring address, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" is reproduced online: http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/doug_a10.htm Read about his personal history and environment in Frederick Douglass's own words: gopher://spinaltap.micro.umn.edu:70/11/Ebooks/By%20Title/Douglass Frederick Douglass wrote a stunning and stirring account of exactly how he became a free man. Look here: http://www.msstate.edu/Archives/History/USA/Afro-Amer/dugl210.txt or here: http://www.thehallway.com/BOOKmyescapefromslavery.htm A photograph of Frederick Douglass: http://www.clements.umich.edu/Photogal/bib/FD.html And here's a photo of him as a younger man, as well as a lengthy bibliography: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/douglass.html ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Copyright 1998 by The Big Network. All rights reserved. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ If you would like to receive Saints & Sinners for FREE every Monday through Friday, OR look at the archives, visit: http://www.bignetwork.com/dp/ss ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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