Black History Month

By: Casey Kellogg

Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass is a very important person
that we need to remember. In February of
1818, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey
was born into slavery.
He escaped from slavery at the age of 20.
He then later became abolitionist leader.
He also wrote an autobiography which is
called, Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass

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dia/commons/8/85/Frederick_Dou
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Life of Frederick Douglass

In the beginning of his life, he lived with his aunt and his grandparents. His mother died
when he was around 7 years old and he only got to see her 4 or 5 times before her death.
Frederick knew nothing about his father, except for the fact that he was white. So he had
it pretty rough as a kid, not only because of not knowing his father or his moms death, but
he would also witness brutal whippings to the other blacks around him.
I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my
life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night. She was hired
by a Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles from my home. She made her
journeys to see me in the night, travelling the whole distance on foot, after the
performance of her day's work.
He was shipped to Baltimore and spent quite some time there,however he was then sent
back to the country where his new slave owner would beat him almost every day.

The Escape
It was then on January 1, 1836, Douglass made the New Years resolution that he would
be free by the end of the year. In the beginning it didnt start out to smoothly, his plan of
escaping was discovered in early April and he was placed in jail. He never ended up
accomplishing that New Years resolution, but he didnt stop trying. When Douglass was
living in Baltimore about two years later, he was working at a shipyard. On September 3,
1838, he fled the city. Frederick Douglass used the transportation of both trains and
steamboats to help him arrive in New York, the following day.
Several weeks later, he had begun to settle in New Bedford, Massachusetts, with his
newly wed wife.

Narrative of Life of Frederick Douglass

This is the autobiography that Frederick had written about
his journeys and what he had to go through while being a
slave.
The book was published in the year of 1845.
Many people believed that Douglass was never
actually a slave because he had a talent for public
speaking and to them it just didnt realistic.
He proved them wrong by writing this book and
sharing his experiences.
And later, he would go on a speaking tour in England,
Ireland, and Scotland.
On the first of January, 1834, I left Mr. Covey, and went to live with
Mr. William Freeland, who lived about three miles from St. Michael's. I
soon found Mr. Freeland a very different man from Mr. Covey.
https://images-na.sslimagesamazon.com/images/P/15

Civil War
During the Civil War, Frederick Douglass was all
about making the jump to end slavery. Some of
the things he did for this to happen was
He discussed and exchanged opinions with
President Abraham Lincoln.
Recruited northern blacks for the Union
Army.
After the war was over, and slavery was
abolished, he fought for the rights of women and
African Americans alike.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Uni
on_soldiers_entrenched_along_the_west_bank_of_the_
Rappahannock_River_at_Fredericksburg,_Virginia_(111B-157).jpg

Sources
Primary Source
"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." Gutenberg. Gutenberg, n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.
<https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23/23-h/23-h.htm>
Secondary Sources
"Frederick Douglass." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1539.html>.
"Frederick Douglass." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/frederick-douglass>.
"Biography of Frederick Douglass-Champion of Civil and Women's Rights."Biography of Frederick Douglass-Champion of Civil
and Women's Rights. Fremarjo Enterprises, Inc., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.frederickdouglass.org/douglass_bio.html>.