View source for Frederick Douglass

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{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox person
|birth_name = Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey
|image = Frederick Douglass portrait.jpg
|image_size = 
|caption = Douglass, circa 1874
|birth_date = c. February 1818<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1539.html |title=Frederick Douglass |accessdate=April 20, 2011}}</ref>
|birth_place = [[Talbot County, Maryland]], U.S.
|death_date = February 20, 1895 (aged <!--about -->77)
|death_place = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
|nationality = American
|occupation = [[Abolitionism in the United States|Abolitionist]], [[Suffragist]], [[Author]], [[Editor]], [[Diplomat]]
|spouse = [[Anna Murray-Douglass]] (m. 1838–1882) (her death)<br />[[Helen Pitts Douglass|Helen Pitts]] (m. 1884–1895) (his death)
|parents = Harriet Bailey and perhaps Aaron Anthony<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1609-1865/essays/aafamilies.htm |title=How Slavery Affected African American Families, Freedom's Story, TeacherServe®, National Humanities Center |publisher=Nationalhumanitiescenter.org |date= |accessdate=October 31, 2012}}</ref>
|party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|children = 5
|signature = Frederick Douglass signature.svg
}}
'''Frederick Douglass''' (born '''Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey''', c. February 1818<ref name="Birthdate">{{cite web
| url = http://www.biography.com/people/frederick-douglass-9278324
| title = Frederick Douglass Biography
| accessdate = September 4, 2012
}}</ref>&nbsp;– February 20, 1895) was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, [[orator]], writer, and [[Politician|statesman]]. After escaping from [[slavery]], he became a leader of the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory<ref name=oratory>{{Cite journal
| jstor = 30147499
| title = Frederick Douglass and the Building of a 'Wall of Anti-Slavery Fire', 1845–1846. An Essay Review
| author = Willard B. Gatewood Jr.
| date = January 1981| journal = The Florida Historical Quarterly
| volume = 59
| issue = 3
| pages = 340–344
}}</ref> and incisive antislavery writings. He stood as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens.<ref name="LawsonKirkland1999">{{cite book|last=Stewart|first=Roderick M.|editor1=Bill E. Lawson|editor2=Frank M. Kirkland|title=Frederick Douglass: A Critical Reader|chapter=The Claims of Frederick Douglass Philosophically Considered|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=S8AXgZJ4I10C&pg=PA155|accessdate=March 18, 2011|date=January 10, 1999|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-0-631-20578-4|pages=155–156}} "Moreover, though he does not make the point explicitly, again the very fact that Douglass is ably disputing this argument on this occasion celebrating a select few's intellect and will (or moral character) &mdash; this fact constitutes a living counterexample to the narrowness of the pro-slavery definition of humans."</ref><ref name="Service2005">{{cite book|author=Social Studies School Service|title=Big Ideas in U.S. History|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Hzo1l0zHV3UC&pg=PA27|accessdate=March 18, 2011|year=2005|publisher=Social Studies|isbn=978-1-56004-206-8|page=27}}</ref> Even many Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave.<ref name=slave-orator>{{cite web | url = http://griid.org/2012/02/14/this-day-is-resistance-history-the-birth-of-frederick-douglass/| title = This Day is Resistance History: The Birth of Frederick Douglass| date =February 14, 2012}} "The publishing of this autobiography by Douglass came about in part because Douglass would often encounter disbelief from White audiences about his former slave status, because he spoke so eloquently in public."</ref>

Douglass wrote several autobiographies. He described his experiences as a slave in his 1845 autobiography, ''[[Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave]]'', which became a bestseller and influential in supporting abolition, as did the second, ''[[My Bondage and My Freedom]]'' (1855). After the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Douglass remained an active campaigner against slavery and wrote his last autobiography, ''[[Life and Times of Frederick Douglass]]''. First published in 1881 and revised in 1892, three years before his death, it covered events during and after the Civil War. Douglass also actively supported [[women's suffrage]], and held several public offices. Without his approval, Douglass became the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States [[United States presidential election, 1872|as the running mate and Vice Presidential nominee of]] [[Victoria Woodhull]], on the radical and visionary [[Equal Rights Party (United States)|Equal Rights Party]] ticket.<ref name=VP/>

A firm believer in the [[Egalitarianism|equality]] of all peoples, whether [[African American|black]], [[Woman|female]], Native American, or recent [[Immigration to the United States|immigrant]], Douglass famously said, "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."<ref name=uniteQuote>{{Cite book
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=wN9Dj-_wM0IC&pg=PA33&dq=%22I+would+unite+with+anybody+to+do+right+and+with+nobody+to+do+wrong.%22#v=onepage&q=%22I%20would%20unite%20with%20anybody%20to%20do%20right%20and%20with%20nobody%20to%20do%20wrong.%22&f=false
| title = The Anti-Slavery Movement, A Lecture by Frederick Douglass before the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society
| author = Frederick Douglass
| year = 1855
| accessdate = October 6, 2010
}} From page 33: "My point here is, first, the Constitution is, according to its reading, an anti-slavery document; and, secondly, to dissolve the Union, as a means to abolish slavery, is about as wise as it would be to burn up this city, in order to get the thieves out of it. But again, we hear the motto, 'no union with slave-holders;' and I answer it, as the noble champion of liberty, [[Nathaniel Peabody Rogers|N. P. Rogers]], answered it with a more sensible motto, namely—{{'}}''No union with slave-holding.''{{'}} I would unite with anybody to do right; and with nobody to do wrong."</ref>

==Life as a slave==
[[File:Unidentified Artist - Frederick Douglass - Google Art Project-restore.png|215px|right|thumb|Douglass around 29 years of age.]]

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born into [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] in [[Talbot County, Maryland]], (on the state's [[Eastern Shore of Maryland|Eastern Shore]] of the [[Chesapeake Bay]]), and was given his name by his mother, Harriet Bailey. The plantation was located between [[Hillsboro, Maryland|Hillsboro]]<ref name="Narrative" /> and [[Cordova, Maryland|Cordova]]. His birthplace was likely his grandmother's shack east of Tappers Corner, ({{Coord|38.8845|-75.958|region:US-WI_type:landmark|display=inline}}) and west of [[Tuckahoe Creek]].<ref name=Barker1996>{{cite web
| url = http://www.choptankriverheritage.org/douglass/
| title = The Search for Frederick Douglass' Birthplace
| author = Amanda Barker
| year = 1996
| accessdate = January 8, 2012
}} Note that, though Amanda Barker's web site devoted to the Douglass birthplace states that you can't find it with tour books and guides, that is no longer the case.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hstc.org/toursandmuseum.htm|title=The Historical Society of Talbot County: Tours and Museum Information|accessdate=December 9, 2013}} See the ''"Frederick Douglass Driving Tour of Talbot County"''.</ref> Years later, after escaping to the North, he took the surname Douglass, having already dropped the use of his two middle names.

The exact date of Douglass's birth is unknown. He later chose to celebrate it on February 14.<ref name="Birthdate" /> The exact year is also unknown (on the first page of ''"[[Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave]]"'', he stated: "I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it.")<ref name="Narrative">{{cite book
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=k5c1THo4xpUC&pg=PA16&dq=autobiography+frederick+douglass#v=onepage&q=autobiography%20frederick%20douglass&f=false
| title = Narrative of the Life of an American Slave
| author = Frederick Douglass
| year = 1845
| accessdate = January 8, 2012
}}<br />Frederick Douglass began his own story thus: "I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland." (Tuckahoe is not a town; it refers to the area west of the creek in Talbot County.) In successive autobiographies, Douglass gave more precise estimates of when he was born, his final estimate being 1817. He adopted February 14 as his birthday because his mother Harriet Bailey used to call him her "little [[Valentine's Day|valentine]]".</ref><ref>Slaves were punished for learning to read or write, and so could not keep records. Based on the extant records of Douglass's former owner, Aaron Anthony, historian [[Dickson Preston]] determined that Douglass was born in February 1818. McFeely, 1991, p. 8.</ref> He was of mixed race, which likely included Native American on his mother's side, as well as African and European.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}

He wrote of his earliest times with his mother:

: "The opinion was ... whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness of this opinion I know nothing.... My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant.... It [was] common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age.<br />"I do not recollect ever seeing my mother by the light of day. ... She would lie down with me, and get me to sleep, but long before I waked she was gone."<ref>{{Cite book | last = Douglass | first = Frederick | title = Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. Written by himself. | publisher = H.G. Collins | edition = 6 | year = 1851 | location = London | page = 10 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=U69bAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref>

After this early separation from his mother, young Frederick lived with his maternal grandmother, Betty Bailey. At the age of seven, however, he was separated from his grandmother, and moved to the [[Wye House]] [[Plantations in the American South|plantation]], where Aaron Anthony worked as overseer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hstc.org/frederickdouglass.htm|title= "Frederick Douglass: Talbot County's Native Son", The Historical Society of Talbot County, Maryland}}</ref> Douglass's mother died when he was about ten. After Anthony died, the boy was given to Lucretia Auld, wife of Thomas Auld, who sent him to serve Thomas' brother Hugh Auld in [[Baltimore]].
{{Slavery}}
When Douglass was about twelve years old, Hugh Auld's wife Sophia started teaching him the [[alphabet]]. Douglass described her as a kind and tender-hearted woman, who treated the boy the way one human being ought to treat another. When Hugh Auld discovered her activity, he strongly disapproved, saying that if a slave learned to read, he would become dissatisfied with his condition and desire freedom. Douglass later referred to this as the "first decidedly antislavery lecture" he had ever heard.<ref>Douglass, Frederick. ''The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History'', p. 50. Dover Value Editions, Courier Dover Publications, 2003. ISBN 0-486-43170-3.</ref> In his autobiography, Douglass related how he learned to read from white children in the neighborhood, and by observing the writings of the men with whom he worked. One day Mrs. Auld saw Douglass reading a newspaper; she ran over and snatched it from him, with her face showing that she believed education and slavery were incompatible with each other.

Douglass continued, secretly, to teach himself how to read and write. He later often said, "knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom."<ref>Jacobs, H. and Appiah, K. (2004). ''Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave & Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.'' Paperback, pp. xiii, 4.</ref> As Douglass began to read newspapers, pamphlets, political materials, and books of every description, this new realm of thought led him to question and condemn the institution of slavery. In later years, Douglass credited ''[[The Columbian Orator]]'', an anthology which he discovered at about age twelve, with clarifying and defining his views on freedom and human rights. The book, first published in 1797, is a classroom reader, containing essays, speeches and dialogues, to assist students in learning reading and grammar.

When Douglass was hired out to William Freeland, he taught other slaves on the plantation to read the ''[[New Testament]]'' at a weekly [[Sunday school]]. As word spread, the interest among slaves in learning to read was so great that in any week, more than 40 slaves would attend lessons. For about six months, their study went relatively unnoticed. While Freeland remained complacent about their activities, other plantation owners became incensed about their slaves being educated. One Sunday they burst in on the gathering, armed with clubs and stones, to disperse the congregation permanently.

In 1833, Thomas Auld took Douglass back from Hugh ("[a]s a means of punishing Hugh," Douglass later wrote). Thomas Auld sent Douglass to work for [[Edward Covey]], a poor farmer who had a reputation as a "slave-breaker." He whipped Douglass regularly, and nearly broke him psychologically. The sixteen-year-old Douglass finally rebelled against the beatings, however, and fought back. After Douglass won a physical confrontation, Covey never tried to beat him again.<ref>Bowers, Jerome. [http://teachinghistory.org/best-practices/examples-of-historical-thinking/23495 Frederick Douglass], [http://www.teachinghistory.org Teachinghistory.org]. Accessed June 3, 2010.</ref>

==From slavery to freedom==
Douglass first tried to escape from Freeland, who had hired him out from his owner Colonel Lloyd, but was unsuccessful. In 1836, he tried to escape from his new master Covey, but failed again. In 1837, Douglass met and fell in love with [[Anna Murray-Douglass|Anna Murray]], a [[Free people of color|free black]] woman in Baltimore about five years older than he. Her free status strengthened his belief in the possibility of gaining his own freedom.<ref name="ThompsonConyers2010PA124" />
[[File:Anna Murray-Douglass.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Anna Murray-Douglass]], Douglass's wife for 44 years]]
On September 3, 1838, Douglass successfully escaped by boarding a [[Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad]] train (the line was newly merged) to the great Northern cities. He jumped aboard the train a short distance east of the previous temporary P.W.& B. train depot in the just-developed industrial, commercial and residential neighborhood of [[Canton, Baltimore|Canton]] at President and Fleet Streets, east of [[Inner Harbor|"The Basin"]] of the [[Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore|Baltimore harbor]] on the Northwest Branch of the [[Patapsco River]]. (This depot was replaced by the historic [[President Street Station]], constructed 1849-1850; it was noted as a site of other slave escapes along one of many routes of the famous "[[Underground Railroad]]" and during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].)

Young Douglass reached [[Havre de Grace, Maryland]], in [[Harford County, Maryland|Harford County]], in the northeast corner of the state, along the southwest shore of the [[Susquehanna River]], which flowed into the [[Chesapeake Bay]]. Though this placed him some 20 miles from the free state of Pennsylvania, it was easier to travel through Delaware, another slave state. Dressed in a sailor's [[uniform]] provided to him by Murray, who also gave him part of her savings to cover his travel costs, he carried identification papers which he had obtained from a free black seaman.<ref name="ThompsonConyers2010PA124">{{Cite book|author1=Julius Eric Thompson|author2=James L. Conyers|title=The Frederick Douglass encyclopedia|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=sTV8OsmDQPcC&pg=PA124|accessdate=February 27, 2011|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-31988-4|page=124}}</ref><ref name=blackpast>{{cite web | url=http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/douglass-anna-murray-c-1813-1882 | title=Anna Murray Douglass | work=[[BlackPast.org]] | accessdate=February 27, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Martin1986">{{Cite book|author=Waldo E. Martin|title=The mind of Frederick Douglass|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bZaZbr2xox8C&pg=PA15|accessdate=March 7, 2011|date=March 1, 1986|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=978-0-8078-4148-8|page=15}}</ref> Douglass crossed the wide [[Susquehanna River]] by the railroad's steam-ferry at Havre de Grace to [[Perryville, Maryland|Perryville]] on the opposite shore in [[Cecil County, Maryland|Cecil County]], then continued by train across the state line to [[Wilmington, Delaware]], a large port at the head of the [[Delaware Bay]]. From there, because of the not yet completed rail line at that time, he went by [[steamboat]] along the [[Delaware River]] further northeast to the "Quaker City" of [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, an anti-slavery stronghold, and continued to the safe house of noted abolitionist [[David Ruggles]] in [[History of New York City|New York City]]. His entire journey to freedom took less than 24 hours.<ref name=SouthCoast>{{Cite news | title= Discovering Anna Murray Douglass | date=February 17, 2008| work=[[South Coast Today]] | url=http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080217/NEWS/802170364| accessdate=February 27, 2011}}</ref>

Frederick Douglass later wrote of his arrival in New York City:
{{quote|I have often been asked, how I felt when first I found myself on free soil. And my readers may share the same curiosity. There is scarcely anything in my experience about which I could not give a more satisfactory answer. A new world had opened upon me. If life is more than breath, and the 'quick round of blood,' I lived more in one day than in a year of my slave life. It was a time of joyous excitement which words can but tamely describe. In a letter written to a friend soon after reaching New York, I said: 'I felt as one might feel upon escape from a den of hungry lions.' Anguish and grief, like darkness and rain, may be depicted; but gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Life and Times of Frederick Douglass |last=Douglass |first=Frederick |year=1882 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=X8ILAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA170 |page=170 |accessdate=December 20, 2009}}</ref>}}

Once Douglass had arrived, he sent for Murray to follow him north to New York. She brought with her the necessary basics for them to set up a home. They were married on September 15, 1838, by a black [[Presbyterian]] minister, just eleven days after Douglass's arrival in New York.<ref name="ThompsonConyers2010PA124" /><ref name=SouthCoast /> At first, they adopted Johnson as their married name, to divert attention.<ref name="ThompsonConyers2010PA124" />

==Abolitionist and preacher==
[[File:Johnson Properties, New Bedford, MA.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Nathan and Mary (Polly) Johnson Properties|home and meetinghouse]] of the Johnsons, where Douglass and his wife lived in New Bedford, Massachusetts]]
The couple settled in [[New Bedford, Massachusetts]]. After meeting and staying with [[Nathan and Mary (Polly) Johnson properties|Nathan and Mary Johnson]], they adopted Douglass as their married name.<ref name="ThompsonConyers2010PA124" /> Douglass thought of joining a white Methodist Church but from the beginning he was disappointed when he saw it was segregated. Later he joined the [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]], an independent [[black church|black denomination]] established in New York City, which counted among its members [[Sojourner Truth]] and [[Harriet Tubman]].<ref>Maurice S. Lee (2009), ''The Cambridge Companion to Frederick Douglass''. Cambridge University Press, p. 63</ref> He became a licensed preacher in 1839,<ref name="pbs.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/frederick_douglass.html|title=This Far by Faith . Frederick Douglass - PBS|publisher=|accessdate=March 17, 2015}}</ref> and this helped him hone his oratorical skills. He held various positions, including steward, Sunday School superintendent, and sexton. In 1840, Douglass delivered a speech in [[Elmira, New York]], then a station on the [[Underground Railroad]]. (Years later a black congregation formed there and by 1940 it became the region's largest church).<ref name="religionnews.com">[http://www.religionnews.com/2013/06/19/5-religious-facts-you-might-not-know-about-frederick-douglass/ "Religious Facts You Might Not Know about Frederick Douglass"], ''Religion News'', 19 June 2013</ref>

Douglass also joined several organizations in New Bedford, and regularly attended abolitionist meetings. He subscribed to [[William Lloyd Garrison]]'s weekly journal ''[[The Liberator (newspaper)|The Liberator]]''. Inspired by Garrison, Douglass later said, "no face and form ever impressed me with such sentiments [of the hatred of slavery] as did those of William Lloyd Garrison." So deep was this influence that in his last biography, Douglass confessed "his paper took a place in my heart second only to The Bible."<ref>Frederick Douglass (2008). ''The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass''. Cosimo, Inc. p. 149 ISBN 9781605203997. (First published in 1881)</ref> 
Garrison was likewise impressed with Douglass, and had written about his anti-colonialism stance in ''The Liberator'' as early as 1839. In 1841 Douglass first heard Garrison speak at a meeting of the Bristol Anti-Slavery Society. At another meeting, Douglass was unexpectedly invited to speak. After telling his story, Douglass was encouraged to become an anti-slavery lecturer. A few days later Douglass spoke at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society's annual convention in [[Nantucket, Massachusetts|Nantucket]]. Then 23 years old, Douglass conquered his nervousness and gave an eloquent speech about his rough life as a slave.

[[File:Garrison-william-lloyd-loc.jpg|thumb|left|150px|[[William Lloyd Garrison]], abolitionist and one of Douglass's first friends in the North]]

In 1843, Douglass joined other speakers in the [[American Anti-Slavery Society]]'s "Hundred Conventions" project, a six-month tour at meeting halls throughout the [[Eastern United States|Eastern]] and [[Midwestern United States]]. During this tour, slavery supporters frequently accosted Douglass. At a lecture in [[Pendleton, Indiana]], an angry mob chased and beat Douglass before a local Quaker family, the Hardys, rescued him. His hand was broken in the attack; it healed improperly and bothered him for the rest of his life.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Life and Times of Frederick Douglass |last=Douglass |first=Frederick |year=1882 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=X8ILAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA170 |pages=287–288 |accessdate=March 15, 2011}}</ref> A stone marker in Falls Park in the [[Pendleton Historic District (Pendleton, Indiana)|Pendleton Historic District]] commemorates this event.

===Autobiography===
[[File:Frederick Douglass by Samuel J Miller, 1847-52.png|thumb|right|Frederick Douglass circa 1847–52.]]

Douglass's best-known work is his first autobiography ''[[Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave]]'', published in 1845. At the time, some skeptics questioned whether a black man could have produced such an eloquent piece of literature. The book received generally positive reviews and became an immediate bestseller. Within three years, it had been reprinted nine times, with 11,000 copies circulating in the United States. It was also translated into French and [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and published in Europe.

Douglass published three versions of his autobiography during his lifetime (and revised the third of these), each time expanding on the previous one. The 1845 ''Narrative'' was his biggest seller, and probably allowed him to raise the funds to gain his legal freedom the following year, as discussed below. In 1855, Douglass published ''[[My Bondage and My Freedom]]''. In 1881, after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Douglass published ''[[Life and Times of Frederick Douglass]]'', which he revised in 1892.

===Travels to Ireland and Britain===
Douglass' friends and mentors feared that the publicity would draw the attention of his ex-owner, Hugh Auld, who might try to get his "property" back. They encouraged Douglass to tour Ireland, as many former slaves had done. Douglass set sail on the ''Cambria'' for [[Liverpool]] on August 16, 1845. He traveled in Ireland as the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Irish Potato Famine]] was beginning.

The feeling of freedom from American racial discrimination amazed Douglass:
<blockquote>Eleven days and a half gone and I have crossed three thousand miles of the perilous deep. Instead of a democratic government, I am under a monarchical government. Instead of the bright, blue sky of America, I am covered with the soft, grey fog of the Emerald Isle [Ireland]. I breathe, and lo! the chattel [slave] becomes a man. I gaze around in vain for one who will question my equal humanity, claim me as his slave, or offer me an insult. I employ a cab—I am seated beside white people—I reach the hotel—I enter the same door—I am shown into the same parlour—I dine at the same table—and no one is offended... I find myself regarded and treated at every turn with the kindness and deference paid to white people. When I go to church, I am met by no upturned nose and scornful lip to tell me, {{'}}''We don't allow niggers in here!''{{'}}<ref name="My Bondage">Frederick Douglass, ''[[My Bondage and My Freedom]]: Part I- Life as a Slave, Part II- Life as a Freeman,'' with an introduction by James M'Cune Smith. New York and Auburn: Miller, Orton & Mulligan (1855); ed. John Stauffer, Random House (2003) ISBN 0-8129-7031-4 (free e-text available [http://web.archive.org/web/20081007231345/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DouMybo.html here])</ref></blockquote>

He also met and befriended the [[Irish nationalism|Irish nationalist]] [[Daniel O'Connell]]<ref>{{Cite book|title=Life and Times of Frederick Douglass |last=Douglass |first=Frederick |year=1882 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=RXQFAAAAQAAJ&pg=205#v=onepage&q&f=false |page=205 |accessdate=December 8, 2010}}</ref> who was to be a great inspiration.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/frederick-douglasss-irish-liberty/ |title=Frederick Douglass' Irish Liberty |last=Chaffin |first=Tom |date=February 25, 2011 |work=[[The New York Times]] |accessdate=February 26, 2011}}</ref>

Douglass spent two years in Ireland and Britain, where he gave many lectures in churches and chapels. His draw was such that some facilities were "crowded to suffocation". One example was his hugely popular ''London Reception Speech,'' which Douglass delivered in May 1846 at [[Alexander Fletcher (minister)|Alexander Fletcher's]] [[Finsbury Chapel]]. Douglass remarked that in England he was treated not "as a color, but as a man."<ref name="Ruuth">Marianne Ruuth (1996). [http://books.google.com/books?id=4Lx8nXxmAlcC&pg=PA118&dq=Douglass+-+england+-+not+%22as+a+color,+but+as+a+man&hl=en&ei=DkicTsr7H4yz8QOFrIDMBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Douglass%20-%20england%20-%20not%20%22as%20a%20color%2C%20but%20as%20a%20man&f=false Frederick Douglass], pp.&nbsp;117–118. Holloway House Publishing, 1996.</ref>

In 1846 Douglass met with [[Thomas Clarkson]], one of the last living British [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolitionists]], who had persuaded Parliament to abolish slavery in Great Britain's colonies.<ref>[[Simon Schama]], ''[[Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves, and the American Revolution]]'', New York: HarperCollins, 2006 pbk, pp. 415–21.</ref> During this trip Douglass became legally free, as British supporters led by Ellen Richardson of [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] raised funds to buy his freedom from his American owner Thomas Auld.<ref name="Ruuth"/><ref>{{Cite book
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=GWQDuizyvD0C&pg=PA59&dq=Frederick+douglass+buys+freedom#v=onepage&q&f=false
| title = Frederick Douglass: Rising Up from Slavery
| author = Frances E. Ruffin
| page = 59
| year = 2008
| accessdate =April 28, 2011
| isbn = 978-1-4027-4118-0
}}</ref> Many supporters tried to encourage Douglass to remain in England but, with his wife still in Massachusetts and three million of his black brethren in bondage in the United States, he returned to America in spring of 1847.<ref name="Ruuth"/>

In the 21st century, historical plaques were installed on buildings in [[Cork (city)|Cork]] and [[Waterford]], Ireland, and [[London]] to celebrate Douglass's visit: the first is on the Imperial Hotel in Cork and was unveiled on 31 August 2012; the second is on the facade of Waterford City Hall and was unveiled on 7 October 2013. It commemorates his speech there on 9 October 1845.<ref>[[Laurence Fenton]], ''[[Frederick Douglass in Ireland –&nbsp;The 'Black O'Connell']]'', Cork: The Collins Press, 2014 pbk, pp. 131 and 151.</ref> The third plaque adorns Neil Gwynn House, [[South Kensington]] in London, where Douglass stayed with the British abolitionist [[George Thompson (abolitionist)|George Thompson]].<ref>Embassy of the United States, London, ''[[Barbara J. Stephenson , Remarks at the unveiling of the Frederick Douglass Plaque
']]'', [http://london.usembassy.gov/dcm-speeches/stephenson006.html].</ref>

===Return to the United States===
After returning to the US, Douglass started publishing his first abolitionist newspaper, the ''[[North Star (anti-slavery newspaper)|The North Star]]'', from the basement of the Memorial AME Zion Church in [[Rochester, New York]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.religionnews.com/2013/06/19/5-religious-facts-you-might-not-know-about-frederick-douglass|title=5 religious facts you might not know about Frederick Douglass|work=Religion News Service|accessdate=March 17, 2015}}</ref> The ''The North Star'''s motto was "Right is of no Sex – Truth is of no Color – God is the Father of us all, and we are all brethren." The AME Church and ''North Star'' vigorously opposed the mostly white [[American Colonization Society]] and its proposal to send blacks back to Africa. This and Douglass's later abolitionist newspapers were mainly funded by English supporters, who gave Douglass five hundred pounds to use as he chose.<ref name="Ruuth"/> Douglass also soon split with Garrison, perhaps because the ''North Star'' competed with Garrison's ''[[National Anti-Slavery Standard]]'' and Marius Robinson's ''Anti-Slavery Bugle''.

Douglass also came to consider Garrison too radical. Earlier Douglass had agreed with Garrison's position that the Constitution was pro-slavery, because of its compromises related to apportionment of Congressional seats, based on partial counting of slave populations with state totals; and protection of the international slave trade through 1807. Garrison had burned copies of the Constitution to express his opinion. But, [[Lysander Spooner]] published ''[[The Unconstitutionality of Slavery]]'' (1846), which explored the [[United States Constitution]] as an anti-slavery document. Douglass's change of opinion about the Constitution and his splitting from Garrison around 1847 became one of the abolitionist movement's most notable divisions. Douglass angered Garrison by saying that the Constitution could and should be used as an instrument in the fight against slavery.<ref>Robert Fanuzzi, "Frederick Douglass' 'Colored Newspaper': Identity Politics in Black and White," in ''The Black Press: New Literary and Historical Essays,'' edited by Todd Vogel (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2001), pp. 65-69.</ref>

In September 1848, Douglass published an open letter addressed to his former master, Thomas Auld, berating him for his conduct, and enquiring after members of his family still held by Auld.<ref name="Finkelman2006-105" /><ref name="Douglass1848"/> In a graphic passage, Douglass asked Auld how he would feel if Douglass had come to take away his daughter Amanda as a slave, treating her the way he and members of his family had been treated by Auld.<ref name="Finkelman2006-105">{{cite book|author=Paul Finkelman|title=Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619–1895: from the colonial period to the age of Frederick Douglass|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-y0OAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=February 2, 2011|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=104–105|isbn=978-0-19-516777-1}}</ref><ref name="Douglass1848">{{cite web|url=http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/02/i-am-your-fellow-man-but-not-your-slave.html|title=I am your fellow man, but not your slave,|accessdate=March 3, 2012}}</ref>

===Women's rights===
[[File:FrederickDouglass-1848.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Frederick Douglass stood up to speak in favor of women's right to vote, photo, c.1840s.]]
In 1848, Douglass was the only African American to attend the [[Seneca Falls Convention]], the first [[women's rights]] convention, in upstate New York.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.virginiamemory.com/online_classroom/shaping_the_constitution/doc/seneca_falls |title=Seneca Falls Convention |publisher=Virginia Memory |date=August 18, 1920 |accessdate=April 20, 2011}}</ref><ref>Stanton, 1997, p. 85.</ref> [[Elizabeth Cady Stanton]] asked the assembly to pass a resolution asking for [[women's suffrage]].<ref>USConstitution.net. [http://www.usconstitution.net/sentiments.html Text of the "Declaration of Sentiments", and the Resolutions]. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.</ref> Many of those present opposed the idea, including influential Quakers [[James Mott|James]] and [[Lucretia Mott]].<ref name=McMillen93/> Douglass stood and spoke eloquently in favor; he said that he could not accept the right to vote as a black man if women could not also claim that right. He suggested that the world would be a better place if women were involved in the political sphere. 
{{quote|In this denial of the right to participate in government, not merely the degradation of woman and the perpetuation of a great injustice happens, but the maiming and repudiation of one-half of the moral and intellectual power of the government of the world.<ref name=McMillen93>McMillen, 2008, pp. 93–94.</ref>}} After Douglass's powerful words, the attendees passed the resolution.<ref name=McMillen93/><ref>National Park Service. Women's Rights. [http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/report-of-the-womans-rights-convention.htm Report of the Woman's Rights Convention, July 19–20, 1848]. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.</ref>

Also in the wake of the Seneca Falls Convention, Douglass used an editorial spot in his paper, The North Star, to press the case for women's rights in this public venue. The article was two-fold: it recalled the "marked ability and dignity" of the proceedings and briefly conveyed several arguments of the convention and feminist thought at the time.

On the first count, Douglass acknowledged the "decorum" of the participants in the face of disagreement. The latter half discussed the primary document that emerged from the conference, a Declaration of Sentiments, and his own discussion of the "infant" feminist cause. Strikingly, he expressed the belief that "[a] discussion of the rights of animals would be regarded with far more complacency…than would be a discussion of the rights of women," and Douglass noted the link between abolitionism and feminism, the overlap between the communities.

His opinion as the prominent editor of the paper likely carried weight, and he stated the position of The North Star explicitly: "[w]e hold woman to be justly entitled to all we claim for man." This letter, written a week after the convention, reaffirmed the first part of the paper's slogan, "right is of no sex."

Later, after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] when the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|15th Amendment]] to give freedmen and free blacks the right to vote was being debated, Douglass split with the Stanton-led faction of the women's rights movement. Douglass supported the amendment, which would grant suffrage to black men. Stanton opposed the 15th Amendment because it limited expansion of suffrage to black men; she predicted its passage would delay for decades the cause for women's right to vote. Stanton argued that American women and black men should band together to fight for [[universal suffrage]], and opposed any bill which split the issues.<ref name="DouglassO'Meally2003"/> Douglass and Stanton both knew that there was not yet enough male support for women's right to vote, but that an amendment giving black men the vote could pass in the late 1860s. Stanton wanted to attach women's suffrage to that of black men so that her cause would be carried to success.<ref name="Foner, p.600">Foner, p. 600.</ref>

Douglass thought such a strategy was too risky, that there was barely enough support for black men's suffrage. He feared that linking the cause of women's suffrage to that of black men would result in failure for both. Douglass argued that white women, already empowered by their social connections to fathers, husbands, and brothers, at least vicariously had the vote. African-American women, he believed, would have the same degree of empowerment as white women once African-American men had the vote.<ref name="Foner, p.600"/> Douglass assured the American women that at no time had he ever argued against women's right to vote.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=sTV8OsmDQPcC&pg=PA138 |page=138 |title=The Frederick Douglass Encyclopedia |last=Watkins |first=Valetha |chapter=National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) |editor=Julius E. Thompson, James L. Conyers Jr, Nancy Dawson |publisher=Greenwood/ABC_CLIO |year=2009 |isbn=9780313385599}}</ref>

===Douglass refines his ideology===
[[File:Douglass argued against John Brown's plan to attack the arsenal at Harpers Ferry - NARA - 559102.jpg|thumb|''Douglass argued against John Brown's plan to attack the arsenal at Harpers Ferry'', painting by [[Jacob Lawrence]].]]
Meanwhile, in 1851, Douglass merged the ''North Star'' with [[Gerrit Smith]]'s ''Liberty Party Paper'' to form ''Frederick Douglass' Paper'', which was published until 1860.

On July 5, 1852, Douglass delivered an address to the ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. This speech eventually became known as "What to the slave is the [[Independence Day (United States)|4th of July]]?" and some consider it the greatest anti-slavery oration ever given.<ref name="pbs.org"/>

[[File:Motto frederick douglass 2.jpg|150px|thumb|right|Frederick Douglass in 1856]]
Like many abolitionists, Douglass believed that education would be crucial for African Americans to improve their lives. This led Douglass to become an early advocate for school desegregation. In the 1850s, Douglass observed that New York's facilities and instruction for African-American children were vastly inferior to those for whites. Douglass called for court action to open all schools to all children. He said that full inclusion within the educational system was a more pressing need for African Americans than political issues such as suffrage.

Douglass met [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]], a radical abolitionist, when Brown visited his home two months before leading the raid on the federal [[Harpers Ferry Armory|armory]] in [[Harpers Ferry, West Virginia|Harpers Ferry]]. However, Douglass disapproved of Brown's plan to start an armed [[slave rebellion]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]. Douglass believed that attacking federal property would enrage the American public. After the raid, Douglass fled for a time to Canada, fearing guilt by association as well as arrest as a co-conspirator. Years later, Douglass shared a stage in Harpers Ferry with [[Andrew Hunter (lawyer)|Andrew Hunter]], the prosecutor who secured Brown's conviction and execution.

In March 1860, while Douglass was once again traveling in England, his youngest daughter Annie died in [[Rochester, New York]]. Douglass sailed back from England the following month, traveling through Canada to avoid detection.

==Religious views==
As a child, Douglass was exposed to a number of religious sermons, and in his youth, he sometimes heard Sophia Auld reading The Bible. In time, he got interested in literacy; he began reading and copying bible verses, and he eventually converted to Christianity.<ref>Thomson, Conyers & Dawson (2009). ''The Frederick Douglass Encyclopedia.'' ABC-CLIO. p. 34-35</ref><ref>Finkelman, Paul. 2006. ''Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895: From the Colonial Period to the Age of Frederick Douglass Three-volume Set''. Oxford University Press. p. 129</ref> He described this approach in his last biography, ''Life and Times of Frederick Douglass'':
<blockquote>I was not more than thirteen years old, when in my loneliness and destitution I longed for some one to whom I could go, as to a father and protector. The preaching of a white Methodist minister, named Hanson, was the means of causing me to feel that in God I had such a friend. He thought that all men, great and small, bond and free, were sinners in the sight of God: that they were by nature rebels against His government; and that they must repent of their sins, and be reconciled to God through Christ. I cannot say that I had a very distinct notion of what was required of me, but one thing I did know well: I was wretched and had no means of making myself otherwise.<br />I consulted a good old colored man named Charles Lawson, and in tones of holy affection he told me to pray, and to "cast all my care upon God."  This I sought to do; and though for weeks I was a poor, broken-hearted mourner, traveling through doubts and fears, I finally found my burden lightened, and my heart relieved. I loved all mankind, slaveholders not excepted, though I abhorred slavery more than ever. I saw the world in a new light, and my great concern was to have everybody converted. My desire to learn increased, and especially, did I want a thorough acquaintance with the contents of the Bible.<ref>Douglass, Frederick (1882); ''The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: From 1817-1882''. 3rd edition by John Lobb. Christian Age Office. p. 63</ref></blockquote>

Douglass was mentored by Rev. Charles Lawson, and, early in his activism, he often included biblical allusions and religious metaphors in his speeches. Though a believer, he strongly criticized religious hypocrisy<ref name="lib.rochester.edu">[http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=2945], University of Rochester Frederick Douglass Project. Retrieved on November 26, 2010.</ref> and accused slaveholders of ''[[wickedness]]'', lack of morality, and failure to follow the [[Golden Rule]]. In this sense, Douglass distinguished between the "Christianity of Christ" and the "Christianity of America" and considered religious slaveholders and clergymen who defended slavery as the most brutal, sinful, and cynical of all who represented "wolves in sheep's clothing."<ref>Finkelman, 2006. p. 129</ref><ref>See his lecture: ''Love of God, Love of Man, Love of Country''. Delivered at Market Hall, New York City October 22, 1847</ref>

Notably, in a famous oration given in the Corinthian Hall of Rochester, he sharply criticized the attitude of religious people who kept silent about slavery, and held that religious ministers committed a ''[[blasphemy]]'' when they taught it as sanctioned by religion. He considered that a law passed to support slavery was "one of the grossest infringements of Christian Liberty" and said that pro-slavery clergymen within the American Church "stripped the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throne of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form," and "an abomination in the sight of God." Of ministers like John Chase Lord, Leonard Elijah Lathrop, [[Ichabod Spencer]], and [[Orville Dewey]], he said that they taught, against the Scriptures, that "we ought to obey man's law before the law of God". He further asserted, "in speaking of the American church, however, let it be distinctly understood that I mean the great mass of the religious organizations of our land. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States,... [[Henry Ward Beecher]], of Brooklyn, [[Samuel J. May]], of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend [Robert R. Raymonde]." He maintained that "upon these men lies the duty to inspire our ranks with high religious faith and zeal, and to cheer us on in the great mission of the slave's redemption from his chains." In addition, he called religious people to embrace abolitionism, stating, "let the religious press, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the conference meeting, the great ecclesiastical, missionary, Bible and tract associations of the land array their immense powers against slavery and slave-holding; and the whole system of crime and blood would be scattered to the winds."<ref name="lib.rochester.edu"/>

During his visits to the United Kingdom, between 1846 and 1848, Douglass asked British Christians never to support American Churches that permitted slavery,<ref>Thomson, Conyers & Dawson (2009). The Frederick Douglass Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 2</ref> and he expressed his happiness to know that a group of ministers in Belfast had refused to admit slaveholders as members of the Church.

On his return to the United States, Douglass founded ''The North Star'', a weekly publication which chosen motto was "Right is of no sex, Truth is of no color, God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren." Douglass later wrote a letter to his former slaveholder, in which he wrote:
{{Quote|Your wickedness and cruelty committed in this respect on your fellow creatures, are greater than all the stripes you have laid upon my back or theirs. It is an outrage upon the soul, a war upon the immortal spirit, and one for which you must give account at the bar of our common Father and Creator.|Letter to His Old Master. To my Old Master Thomas Auld.<ref name="My Bondage" />}}

Sometimes considered a precursor of a [[Nondenominational Christianity|non-denominational]] [[liberation theology]],<ref>Maurice S. Lee (2009), p. 69</ref><ref>Reginald F. Davis (2005). ''Frederick Douglass: A Precursor of Liberation Theology''. Voices of the African diaspora. Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780865549258</ref> Douglass was a deeply spiritual man, as his home continues to show. The fireplace mantle features busts of two of his favorite philosophers, [[David Friedrich Strauss]], author of "The Life of Jesus," and [[Ludwig Feuerbach]], author of "The Essence of Christianity." In addition to several Bibles and books about various religions in the library, images of angels and Jesus are displayed, as well as interior and exterior photographs of Washington's [[Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church]].<ref name="religionnews.com"/> Throughout his life, Douglass had linked that individual experience with social reform, and like other Christian abolitionists, he followed practices such as abstaining from tobacco, alcohol and other substances that he believed corrupted body and soul.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-stauffer/frederick-douglass-the-prophet_b_2425712.html | work=Huffington Post | first=John | last=Stauffer | title=What Every American Should Know About Frederick Douglass, Abolitionist Prophet | date=January 8, 2013}}</ref>

==Civil War years==

===Before the Civil War===
By the time of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Douglass was one of the most famous black men in the country, known for his orations on the condition of the black race and on other issues such as [[women's rights]]. His eloquence gathered crowds at every location. His reception by leaders in England and Ireland added to his stature.

===Fight for emancipation and suffrage===
[[File:Frederick Douglass c1860s.jpg|thumb|Douglass, circa 1860s]]
Douglass and the abolitionists argued that because the aim of the Civil War was to end slavery, African Americans should be allowed to engage in the fight for their freedom. Douglass publicized this view in his newspapers and several speeches. In August 1861, Douglass published an account of the [[First Battle of Bull Run]] which noted that there were some blacks already in the Confederate ranks.<ref name="Black Confederates">{{cite web|url= http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/09/black-confederates/|title= Black Confederates}}</ref> A few weeks later, Douglass brought the subject up again, quoting a witness to the battle who said they saw black Confederates "with muskets on their shoulders and bullets in their pockets."<ref name="Black Confederates"/> Douglass conferred with [[President of the United States|President]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] in 1863 on the treatment of black soldiers, and with President [[Andrew Johnson]] on the subject of black [[suffrage]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2015}}

President [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln]]'s [[Emancipation Proclamation]], which took effect on January 1, 1863, declared the freedom of all slaves in Confederate-held territory.<ref>Slaves in Union-held areas were not covered by this war-measures act.</ref> (Slaves in Union-held areas and Northern states were freed with the adoption of the 13th Amendment on December 6, 1865.) Douglass described the spirit of those awaiting the proclamation: "We were waiting and listening as for a bolt from the sky ... we were watching ... by the dim light of the stars for the dawn of a new day ... we were longing for the answer to the agonizing prayers of centuries."<ref name="thecivilwaryears-thefightforemancipation">{{cite web|url=http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/douglass/part4.html|title=The Fight For Emancipation |accessdate=April 19, 2007}}</ref>

During the [[United States presidential election, 1864|U.S. Presidential Election of 1864]], Douglass supported [[John C. Frémont]]. Douglass was disappointed that President Lincoln did not publicly endorse [[suffrage]] for black freedmen. Douglass believed that since African-American men were fighting for the Union in the [[American Civil War]], they deserved the right to vote.<ref>Stauffer (2008), ''Giants'', p. 280.</ref>

With the North no longer obliged to return slaves to their owners in the South, Douglass fought for equality for his people. He made plans with Lincoln to move liberated slaves out of the South. During the war, Douglass also helped the Union by serving as a recruiter for the [[54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry]]. His eldest son, Charles Douglass, joined the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, but was ill for much of his service.<ref name="pbs.org"/> Lewis Douglass fought at the Battle of [[Fort Wagner]].<ref>William S. McFeely, ''Frederick Douglass'' (New York: W. W. Norton, 1991), p. 226.</ref> Another son, Frederick Douglass Jr., also served as a recruiter.

===After Lincoln's death===
[[File:Frederick Douglass (2).jpg|left|thumb|175px|Frederick Douglass]]
In his last autobiography, ''The Life & Times of Frederick Douglass'', Douglass referred to Lincoln as America's "greatest President".{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} Moreover, the post-war (1865) ratification of the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|13th Amendment]] outlawed slavery. The [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|14th Amendment]] provided for citizenship and equal protection under the law. The [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|15th Amendment]] protected all citizens from being discriminated against in voting because of race.<ref name="DouglassO'Meally2003">{{cite book|author1=Frederick Douglass|author2=Robert G. O'Meally|title=Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=IVIwdPfWvjMC&pg=PR11|accessdate=February 1, 2011|date=November 30, 2003|publisher=Spark Educational Publishing|isbn=978-1-59308-041-9|page=xi}}</ref>

On April 14, 1876, Douglass delivered the keynote speech at the unveiling of the [[Emancipation Memorial]] in Washington's Lincoln Park. In that speech, Douglass spoke frankly about Lincoln, noting what he perceived as both positive and negative attributes of the late President. Calling Lincoln "the white man's president", Douglass criticized Lincoln's tardiness in joining the cause of emancipation, noting that Lincoln initially opposed the expansion of slavery but did not support its elimination. But Douglass also asked, "Can any colored man, or any white man friendly to the freedom of all men, ever forget the night which followed [[Emancipation Proclamation|the first day of January 1863]], when the world was to see if Abraham Lincoln would prove to be as good as his word?"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?documentprint=39 |title=Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln by Frederick Douglass|publisher=Teachingamericanhistory.org |date= |accessdate=September 4, 2008}}</ref> Douglass also said: "Though Mr. Lincoln shared the prejudices of his white fellow-countrymen against the Negro, it is hardly necessary to say that in his heart of hearts he loathed and hated slavery...."

The crowd, roused by his speech, gave Douglass a standing ovation. Lincoln's widow [[Mary Todd Lincoln|Mary Lincoln]] supposedly gave Lincoln's favorite [[walking-stick]] to Douglass in appreciation. That walking-stick still rests in Douglass's final residence, "Cedar Hill", now preserved as the [[Frederick Douglass National Historic Site]].

==Reconstruction era==

After the Civil War, Douglass continued to work for equality for African-Americans and women. Due to his prominence and activism during the war, Douglass received several political appointments. He served as president of the [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]]-era [[Freedman's Savings Bank]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2015}} Douglass also became chargé d'affaires for the Dominican Republic, but resigned that position after two years because of disagreements with U.S. government policy.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}}

Meanwhile, white insurgents had quickly arisen in the South after the war, organizing first as secret [[vigilante]] groups, including the [[Ku Klux Klan]]. Armed insurgency took different forms. Powerful paramilitary groups included the [[White League]] and the [[Red Shirts (Southern United States)|Red Shirts]], both active during the 1870s in the Deep South. They operated as "the military arm of the Democratic Party", turning out Republican officeholders and disrupting elections.<ref>George C. Rable, ''But There Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction'', Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1984, p. 132.</ref> More than 10 years after the end of the war, Democrats regained political power in every state of the former Confederacy and began to reassert white supremacy. They enforced this by a combination of violence, late 19th-century laws imposing [[racial segregation|segregation]] and a concerted effort to [[disfranchisement after Reconstruction era (United States)|disfranchise]] African Americans. New labor and criminal laws also limited their freedom.<ref>[http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=224731 Richard H. Pildes, "Democracy, Anti-Democracy, and the Canon", ''Constitutional Commentary'', Vol. 17, 2000, pp. 12–13.], accessed March 10, 2008.</ref>

[[File:2000-2008 17th Street, NW.JPG|thumb|Douglass' former residence in the [[U Street Corridor]] of Washington, D.C. He built 2000–2004 17th Street, [[Northwest, Washington, D.C.|N.W.]], in 1875.]]
In an effort to combat these efforts, Douglass supported the presidential campaign of [[Ulysses S. Grant]] in [[United States presidential election, 1868|1868]]. In 1870, Douglass started his last newspaper, the ''New National Era,'' attempting to hold his country to its commitment to equality.<ref name="pbs.org"/> President Grant sent a Congressionally sponsored commission, accompanied by Douglass, on a mission to the West Indies to investigate if the annexation of Santo Domingo would be good for the United States. Grant believed annexation would help relieve the violent situation in the South allowing [[African Americans]] their own state. Douglass and the commission favored annexation, however, Congress remained opposed to annexation. Douglass criticized Senator [[Charles Sumner]], who opposed annexation, stating if Sumner continued to oppose annexation he would "regard him as the worst foe the colored race has on this continent." <ref name="Brands 2012a">Brands (2012), ''The Man Who Saved the Union Ulysses S Grant In War and Peace, p 462</ref>

After the midterm elections, Grant signed the [[Civil Rights Act of 1871]] (also known as the Klan Act), and the second and third [[Enforcement Acts]]. Grant used their provisions vigorously, suspending ''[[habeas corpus]]'' in South Carolina and sending troops there and into other states. Under his leadership over 5,000 arrests were made. Grant's vigor in disrupting the Klan made him unpopular among many whites, but earned Douglass's praise. An associate of Douglass wrote of Grant that African Americans "will ever cherish a grateful remembrance of his name, fame and great services."

In 1872, Douglass became the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States, as [[Victoria Woodhull]]'s running mate on the [[Equal Rights Party (United States)|Equal Rights Party]] ticket. He was nominated without his knowledge. Douglass neither campaigned for the ticket nor acknowledged that he had been nominated.<ref name=VP>{{cite book
|last=Trotman |first=C. James |title=Frederick Douglass: A Biography|publisher=Penguin Books |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-313-35036-8|pages=118–119}}</ref> In that year, he was [[presidential elector]] at large for the [[State of New York]], and took that state's votes to Washington, D.C.<ref name="electoral">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://archive.org/stream/americancyclopae06ripluoft#page/228/mode/2up |title=Douglass, Frederick |page=228 |encyclopedia=[[American Cyclopedia]] |volume=6 |year=1879 |publisher=[[D. Appleton and Company]] |location=New York |accessdate=February 9, 2015}}</ref>

However, during that year his home on South Avenue in Rochester, New York, burned down; arson was suspected. A complete issue of ''The North Star'' was lost. Douglass then moved to Washington, D.C.

Throughout the Reconstruction era, Douglass continued speaking, and emphasized the importance of work, voting rights and actual exercise of suffrage. Douglass's stump speech for 25 years after the end of the Civil War emphasized work to counter the racism that was then prevalent in unions.<ref>Olasky, Marvin. "History turned right side up". ''WORLD magazine''. February 13, 2010. p. 22.</ref> In a speech delivered on November 15, 1867, Douglass said: "A man's rights rest in three boxes. The ballot box, jury box and the cartridge box. Let no man be kept from the ballot box because of his color. Let no woman be kept from the ballot box because of her sex."<ref name=auken>{{cite book
 |page=57
 |title=Williamsport: Boomtown on the Susquehanna
 |author=Robin Van Auken, Louis E Hunsinger
 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing
 |year=2003
 |isbn=0-7385-2438-7
 |url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=zFclDyk2LTEC&pg=PA57#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref><ref>This early version resembled the [[four boxes of liberty]] concept later used by conservatives opposed to gun control.</ref> Douglass spoke at many colleges around the country. These included [[Bates College]] in [[Lewiston, Maine]], in 1873.

==Family life==
[[File:Douglass Helen Eva Frederick.jpg|thumb|Frederick Douglass with his second wife [[Helen Pitts Douglass]] (sitting). The woman standing is her sister Eva Pitts.]]
Douglass and [[Anna Murray-Douglass|Anna]] had five children: Rosetta Douglass, [[Lewis Henry Douglass]], Frederick Douglass, Jr., [[Charles Remond Douglass]], and Annie Douglass (died at the age of ten). Charles and Rosetta helped produce his newspapers. Anna Douglass remained a loyal supporter of her husband's public work, even though Douglass' relationships with [[Julia Griffiths]] and [[Ottilie Assing]], two women he was professionally involved with, caused recurring speculation and scandals.<ref name="ThompsonConyers2010PA125">{{cite book|author1=Julius Eric Thompson|author2=James L. Conyers|title=The Frederick Douglass encyclopedia|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=sTV8OsmDQPcC&pg=PA125|accessdate=February 27, 2011|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-31988-4|page=125}}</ref>

After Anna died in 1882, in 1884 Douglass married again, to [[Helen Pitts Douglass|Helen Pitts]], a white feminist from [[Honeoye, New York]]. Pitts was the daughter of [[Gideon Pitts, Jr]]., an abolitionist colleague and friend of Douglass. A graduate of [[Mount Holyoke College]] (then called Mount Holyoke Female Seminary), Pitts worked on a radical feminist publication named ''Alpha'' while living in Washington, D.C. The marriage provoked a storm of controversy, since Pitts was both white and nearly 20 years younger than Douglass. Her family stopped speaking to her; his children considered the marriage a repudiation of their mother. However, feminist [[Elizabeth Cady Stanton]] congratulated the couple.<ref name="winningthevote">[http://winningthevote.org/FDouglass.html Frederick Douglass biography] at winningthevote.org. Retrieved October 3, 2006.</ref> Douglass responded to the criticisms by saying that his first marriage had been to someone the color of his mother, and his second to someone the color of his father.<ref name="ThompsonConyers2010PA46">{{cite book|author1=Julius Eric Thompson|author2=James L. Conyers|title=The Frederick Douglass encyclopedia|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=sTV8OsmDQPcC&pg=PA46|accessdate=February 27, 2011|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-31988-4|page=46}}</ref>

==Final years in Washington, D.C.==
[[File:Frederick Douglass House.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Frederick Douglass National Historic Site|Cedar Hill]]'', Douglass' house in the [[Anacostia Historic District|Anacostia]] neighborhood of Washington, D.C., is preserved as a [[List of areas in the United States National Park System#National historic sites|National Historic Site]].]]
The Freedman's Savings Bank went bankrupt in 1874, mere months after Douglass became its president. During that same economic crisis, his final newspaper, ''The New Era'', failed as well. When Republican [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] was elected President, Douglass accepted an appointment as [[United States Marshal]] for the [[District of Columbia]], which helped assure his family's financial security.<ref name="pbs.org"/>

Also in 1877, Douglass visited Thomas Auld, who was by then on his deathbed, and the two men reconciled. Douglass had met Auld's daughter, Amanda Auld Sears, some years prior; she had requested the meeting and had subsequently attended and cheered one of Douglass' speeches. Her father complimented her for reaching out to Douglass. The visit also appears to have brought closure to Douglass, although some criticized his effort.<ref name="Finkelman2006-105" />

That same year, Douglass bought the family's final home in Washington D.C., on a hill above the [[Anacostia River]]. He and Anna named it ''Cedar Hill'' (also spelled ''CedarHill''). They expanded the house from 14 to 21 rooms, and included a china closet. One year later, Douglass purchased adjoining lots and expanded the property to 15&nbsp;acres (61,000&nbsp;m²). The home is now preserved as the [[Frederick Douglass National Historic Site]].

In 1881, Douglass both published the final edition of his autobiography, ''The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass'', and received another political appointment, as [[Recorder of Deeds]] for the District of Columbia. However, Anna Murray-Douglass died in 1882, leaving the widower devastated. After a period of mourning, Douglass found new meaning from working with activist [[Ida B. Wells]]. He also remarried in 1884, as mentioned above.

Douglass also continued his speaking engagements and travel, both in the United States and abroad. With his new wife, Helen, Douglass traveled to England, Ireland, France, Italy, [[Egypt]] and [[Greece]] from 1886 to 1887. Douglass also became known for advocating [[Irish Home Rule]] and supported [[Charles Stewart Parnell]] in Ireland. 
[[File:Frederick Douglass gravestone.jpg|thumb|Gravestone of Frederick Douglass located in [[Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester|Mount Hope Cemetery]], [[Rochester, New York]]]]

At the [[1888 Republican National Convention]], Douglass became the first African American to receive a vote for President of the United States in a [[major party]]'s roll call vote.<ref>"[http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20031027031604/http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/republican/features/convention.history Past Convention Highlights]." Republican Convention 2000. [[CNN]]/AllPolitics.com. Retrieved July 1, 2008.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=YSENAAAAIAAJ|title=Official Proceedings of the Republican National Convention Held at Chicago, June 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 25, 1888|author1=National Convention|first1=Republican Party (U.S. : 1854– )|year=1903}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/dems.convention.trivia/index.html|title=CNN: Think you know your Democratic convention trivia? | date=August 26, 2008 | accessdate=May 2, 2010}}</ref> That year, Douglass spoke at [[Claflin University|Claflin College]], a black college in [[Orangeburg, South Carolina]], and the oldest such institution in the state.<ref>Richard Reid, [http://www.thetandd.com/article_356cbc9e-3e10-11e0-883e-001cc4c03286.html "The Gloria Rackley-Blackwell story"] ''The Times and Democrat'' (February 22, 2011). Retrieved June 3, 2011.</ref>

Many African Americans, called [[Exoduster]]s, escaped the Klan and racially discriminatory laws in the South by moving to large northern cities, as well as to places like [[Kansas]] where some formed all-black towns to have a greater level of freedom and autonomy. Douglass did not favor this, nor the [[Back to Africa movement]], which he thought resembled the American Colonization Society he had fought in his youth. In 1892, at an Indianapolis conference convened by Bishop [[Henry McNeal Turner]], Douglass spoke out against the separatist movements, urging blacks to stick it out.<ref name="pbs.org"/> However, some audiences condemned and booed him for this position.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}} Speaking in Baltimore in 1894, Douglass said, "I hope and trust all will come out right in the end, but the immediate future looks dark and troubled. I cannot shut my eyes to the ugly facts before me."<ref>[[Wilkerson, Isabel]], "[[The Warmth of Other Suns]]" (2010), p. 40.</ref>

The Republic of Haiti appointed Douglass minister-resident and [[consul-general]] in 1889, but the position lasted for little over a year. In 1892, Douglass became Haiti's commissioner to the Chicago [[World's Columbian Exposition]].

In 1892, Douglass constructed rental housing for blacks, now known as [[Douglass Place]], in the [[Fells Point]] area of Baltimore. The complex still exists, and in 2003 was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?HDID=764&COUNTY=Baltimore%20City&FROM=NRCountyList.aspx?COUNTY=Baltimore%20City|title=Maryland Historical Trust|date=November 21, 2008|work= Douglass Place, Baltimore City|publisher=Maryland Historical Trust}}</ref>

==Death==
On February 20, 1895, Douglass attended a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C. During that meeting, he was brought to the platform and received a standing ovation. Shortly after he returned home, Frederick Douglass died of a massive heart attack or stroke.

His funeral was held at the [[Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church]]; thousands passed by his coffin to show their respect. Although Douglass had attended several churches in the nation's capital, he had a pew here and donated two standing candelabras when this church had moved to a new building in 1886. He also gave many lectures there, including his last major speech, "The Lesson of the Hour."<ref name="religionnews.com"/>

Douglass' coffin was transported back to [[Rochester, New York]], where he had lived for 25 years, longer than anywhere else in his life. He was buried next to Anna in the Douglass family plot of [[Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester|Mount Hope Cemetery]], and Helen joined them in 1903.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7407760|title=Anna Murray Douglass (1813 - 1882) - Find A Grave Memorial|publisher=|accessdate=March 17, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7407772|title=Helen Pitts Douglass (1838 - 1903) - Find A Grave Memorial|publisher=|accessdate=March 17, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freethought-trail.org/site.php?By=SiteType&Page=3&Site=50|title=The Freethought Trail|publisher=|accessdate=March 17, 2015}}</ref> [[Susan B. Anthony]] is the cemetery's other often-visited gravesite.
{{clear}}

==Legacy and honors==
{{main|List of things named after Frederick Douglass}}
[[File:FREDERICK DOUGLASS - STATESMAN, ABOLITIONIST, CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE - NARA - 535673.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Poster from Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. News Bureau, 1943]]
The [[Episcopal Church (USA)]] remembers Douglass annually on its [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)|liturgical calendar]] for February 20, the anniversary of his death. Many public schools have also been named in his honor. Other honors and remembrances, organized chronologically, include:

*In 1921, members of the [[Alpha Phi Alpha]] fraternity (the first African-American intercollegiate fraternity) designated Frederick Douglass as an honorary member. Douglass thus became the only man to receive an honorary membership posthumously.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.albany.edu/~aphia/newsite/famousas.html|title=Prominent Alpha Men |accessdate=May 6, 2007 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20071014054223/http://albany.edu/~aphia/newsite/famousas.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = October 14, 2007}}</ref>

* The [[Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge]], sometimes referred to as the South Capitol Street Bridge, just south of the [[US Capitol]] in Washington DC, was built in 1950 and named in his honor.

*In 1962, his home in [[Anacostia]] (Washington, DC) became part of the National Park System,<ref>{{cite news|title=Frederick Douglass Bill is Approved by President: Bill making F Douglass home, Washington, DC, part of natl pk system signed|date=September 6, 1962|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> and in 1988 was designated the [[Frederick Douglass National Historic Site]].

*In 1965, the [[United States Postal Service|U.S. Postal Service]] honored Douglass with a stamp in the [[Prominent Americans series]].

*In 1999, [[Yale University]] established the Frederick Douglass Book Prize for works in the history of slavery and abolition, in his honor. The annual $25,000 prize is administered by the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History and the [[Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition]] at Yale.

*In 2002, scholar [[Molefi Kete Asante]] named Frederick Douglass to his list of ''[[100 Greatest African Americans]]''.<ref>Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). ''100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia''. Amherst, New York. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-963-8.</ref>

*In 2003, [[Douglass Place]], the rental housing units that Douglass built in Baltimore in 1892 for blacks, was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].

*In 2007, the former Troup–Howell bridge which carried Interstate 490 over the [[Genesee River]] in Rochester was redesigned and renamed the [[Frederick Douglass&nbsp;– Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge]].

*In 2010, a statue (by Gabriel Koren) and memorial (designed by Algernon Miller) of Douglass<ref>{{cite news|title=Summoning Frederick Douglass|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/opinion/03fri4.html|last=Clines|first=Francis X.|date=November 3, 2006|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> were unveiled at [[Frederick Douglass Circle]] at the northwest corner of [[Central Park]] in New York City.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/nyregion/22bigcity.html?_r=0|title=A Slow Tribute That Might Try the Subject's Patience|last=Dominus|first=Susan|date=May 21, 2010|work=[[The New York Times]]|accessdate=July 12, 2011}}</ref>

* Also in 2010, the [[New York Writers Hall of Fame]] inducted Douglass in its inaugural class.

*On June 12, 2011, Talbot County, Maryland, honored Douglass by installing a seven-foot bronze statue of Douglass on the lawn of the county courthouse in [[Easton, Maryland]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.stardem.com/news/local_news/article_9e0593e4-7451-5169-ad2d-19dd35652672.html|title=Douglass statue arrives in Easton|last=Holt|first=Dustin|date=June 12, 2011|work=[[The Star Democrat]]|accessdate=July 12, 2011}}</ref>

* ''The Frederick Douglass Institute'' is a [[West Chester University of Pennsylvania|West Chester University]] program for advancing multicultural studies across the curriculum and for deepening the intellectual heritage of Frederick Douglass.<ref>{{cite web|title=About the Frederick Douglass Institute|url=http://www.wcupa.edu/_ACADEMICS/Fdouglass/|work=Frederick Douglass Institute|publisher=West Chester University|accessdate=September 30, 2013}}</ref>

*On June 19, 2013, a statue of Douglass by Maryland artist Steven Weitzman was unveiled<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/frederick-douglass-statue-unveiled-in-the-capitol/2013/06/19/6542c926-d914-11e2-a9f2-42ee3912ae0e_gallery.html "Frederick Douglass statue unveiled in the Capitol"], June 19, 2013.</ref> in the [[United States Capitol Visitor Center]] as part of the [[National Statuary Hall Collection]], the first statue representing the [[District of Columbia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-hill/other-statues/frederick-douglass|title=Frederick Douglass - Architect of the Capitol - United States Capitol|publisher=|accessdate=March 17, 2015}}</ref>

*On September 15, 2014, under the leadership of Governor [[Martin O'Malley]] a portrait of Frederick Douglass was unveiled at his official residence in Annapolis, MD. This painting, by artist [[Simmie Knox]], is the first African American portrait to grace the walls of Government House. Commissioned by [[Eddie C. Brown]], founder of Brown Capital Management, LLC,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://browncapital.com/citizenship/brown-capital-management-founder-and-wife-help-make-maryland-history|title=Brown Capital Management Founder and Wife Help Make Maryland History - Brown Capital|publisher=|accessdate=March 17, 2015}}</ref> the painting was presented at a reception by the Governor.

*On January 7, 2015, As a parting gift in honor of Governor  [[Martin O'Malley]]'s last Board of Public Works a portrait of Frederick Douglass was gifted to him by [[Peter Franchot]].<ref>http://bpw.maryland.gov/MeetingDocs/2015-Jan-7-Transcript5.pdf</ref> Two editions of this artwork, by artist [[Benjamin Jancewicz]], were purchased from Galerie Myrtis by Peter Franchot and his wife Ann both as a gift for the Governor as well as to add to their own collection. The Governor's edition now hangs in his office.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/peterfranchot/photos/a.193567594080634.34236.190343811069679/635526766551379/|title=Peter Franchot - Timeline Photos - Facebook|publisher=|accessdate=March 17, 2015}}</ref>

==Works==
[[File:Frederickdouglass.jpg|thumb|right|1965 US Postage Stamp, published during the upsurge of the [[Civil Rights Movement]]]]

===Writings===
* ''[[A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave]]'' (1845)
* "[[The Heroic Slave]]". ''Autographs for Freedom''. Ed. Julia Griffiths, Boston: Jewett and Company, 1853. pp.&nbsp;174–239.
* ''[[My Bondage and My Freedom]]'' (1855)
* ''[[Life and Times of Frederick Douglass]]'' (1881, revised 1892)
* Douglass founded and edited the abolitionist newspaper ''[[North Star (anti-slavery newspaper)|The North Star]]'' from 1847 to 1851. He merged ''The North Star'' with another paper to create the ''Frederick Douglass' Paper''.
*[http://books.google.com/books/about/In_the_Words_of_Frederick_Douglass.html?id=34qDZwEACAAJ ''In the Words of Frederick Douglass: Quotations from Liberty's Champion'']. Edited by John R. McKivigan and Heather L. Kaufman. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-8014-4790-7

===Speeches===
* "The Church and Prejudice"
* ''[[Self-Made Men (Frederick Douglass)|Self-Made Men]]''
* ''[[The Hypocrisy of American Slavery]]'', 1852
* "Speech at National Hall, Philadelphia July 6, 1863 for the Promotion of Colored Enlistments"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/addressesofhonwd00kell#page/n3/mode/2up|title=Addresses of the Hon. W. D. Kelley, Miss Anna E. Dickinson, and Mr. Frederick Douglass : at a mass meeting, held at National Hall, Philadelphia, July 6, 1863, for the promotion of colored enlistments|publisher=|accessdate=March 17, 2015}}</ref>
* "[[What to a slave is the 4th of July?]]"<ref>[http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=2945 lib.rochester.edu]</ref>

==Douglass in Arts and Literature==
* The 1989 film ''[[Glory (1989 film)|Glory]]'' featured Frederick Douglass as a friend of Francis George Shaw. He was played by [[Raymond St. Jacques]].
* The [[Fugees]]' 1996 album ''[[The Score (Fugees album)|The Score]]'' includes the following lines about Frederick Douglass:
::Problem with noman before black I'm first hu-man
::Appetite to write, like Frederick Douglass with a slave hand<ref>[http://ohhla.com/anonymous/fugees/thescore/how_many.fge.txt How Many Mics] ohhla.com Retrieved on February 8, 2013</ref>
* Douglass is the protagonist of the novel ''Riversmeet'' (Richard Bradbury, Muswell Press, 2007), a fictionalized account of his 1845 speaking tour of the British Isles.<ref>[http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=13625 "Frederick Douglass and 'Riversmeet': connecting 19th century struggles"], ''Socialist Worker'' online, December 1, 2007</ref>
* The 2004 [[mockumentary]] film, an alternative history called ''[[C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America]]'', featured the figure of Douglass.
* The 2008 documentary film called ''[[Frederick Douglass and the White Negro]]'' tells the story of Frederick Douglass in Ireland and the relationship between African Americans and Irish Americans during the [[American Civil War]].
* Frederick Douglass is a major character in the novel ''[[How Few Remain]]'' by [[Harry Turtledove]], an [[alternate history]] in which the Confederacy won the Civil War and Douglass must continue his anti-slavery campaign into the 1880s.
* Frederick Douglass appears in ''[[Flashman and the Angel of the Lord]], ''by [[George MacDonald Fraser]].
* [[Terry Bisson]]'s 1988 novel ''[[Fire on the Mountain (1988 novel)|Fire on the Mountain]]'' is an [[alternate history]] in which [[John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry]] succeeded and instead of the Civil War the Black slaves emancipated themselves in a massive slave revolt. In this history Frederick Douglass (along with [[Harriet Tubman]]) is the revered Founder of a Black state created in the Deep South.
* Frederick Douglass appears as a Great Humanitarian in the 2008 strategy video game ''[[Civilization Revolution]]''.<ref>[http://www.civfanatics.com/civrev/great_people Civilization Revolution: Great People] "CivFanatics" Retrieved September 3, 2009</ref>
* Douglass, his wife, and his mistress, [[Ottilie Assing]], are the main characters in [[Jewell Parker Rhodes]]' ''Douglass' Women'', a novel (New York: Atria Books, 2002).
* Douglass' time in Ireland is fictionalized in [[Colum McCann]]'s 2013 novel ''[[TransAtlantic (novel)|TransAtlantic]]''.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/books/review/transatlantic-by-colum-mccann.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 | title=Cross Over 'TransAtlantic,' by Colum McCann | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=June 20, 2013 | accessdate=September 5, 2013 | author=Wagner, Erica}}</ref> 
* A comedic representation of Douglass is made in [[James McBride (writer)|James McBride]]'s 2013 novel ''The Good Lord Bird''.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2013/08/james-mcbride-on-the-good-lord-bird | title=James McBride on 'The Good Lord Bird' | work=[[New York Daily News]] | date=August 21, 2013 | accessdate=September 5, 2013 | author=Lyons, Joel}}</ref>
* In the 2015 documentary film ''The Gettysburg Address'' the role of Frederick Douglass is voiced by actor [[Laurence Fishburne]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Maryland}}
*[[African-American literature]]
*''[[Frederick Douglass and the White Negro]]''
*[[List of African-American abolitionists]]
*[[List of civil rights leaders]]
*[[List of slaves]]
*[[List of suffragists and suffragettes]]
*[[Slave narrative]]
*''[[The Columbian Orator]]''
*[[Timeline of women's suffrage]]
*[[U.S. Constitution#The escape clause|U.S. Constitution]], defender of the Constitution
*[[List of suffragists and suffragettes#Major suffrage organizations|Women's suffrage organizations]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=20em}}

==Further reading==
;Scholarship
*[[Philip Foner|Foner, Philip Sheldon]]. ''The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass''. New York: International Publishers, 1950.
*[[Henry Louis Gates, Jr.|Gates, Jr., Henry Louis]], ed. ''Frederick Douglass, Autobiography'' ([[Library of America]], 1994) ISBN 978-0-940450-79-0
*Houston A. Baker, Jr., Introduction, ''Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass'', Penguin, 1986 edition.
*[[Nathan Huggins|Huggins, Nathan Irvin]], and Oscar Handlin. ''Slave and Citizen: The Life of Frederick Douglass.'' Library of American Biography. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980; Longman (1997). ISBN 0-673-39342-9
*Lampe, Gregory P. ''Frederick Douglass: Freedom's Voice.'' Rhetoric and Public Affairs Series. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1998.
*Levine, Robert S. ''Martin Delany, Frederick Douglass, and the Politics of Representative Identity.'' Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.
*[[William S. McFeely|McFeely, William S.]] [http://books.google.com/books?id=y71pjlOt2PAC ''Frederick Douglass.''] New York: Norton, 1991. ISBN 0-393-31376-X
*McMillen, Sally Gregory. [http://books.google.com/books?id=TzVRlFXiYswC ''Seneca Falls and the origins of the women's rights movement.''] Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 0-19-518265-0
*Oakes, James. ''The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics.'' New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2007. ISBN 0-393-06194-9
*Quarles, Benjamin. ''Frederick Douglass.'' Washington: Associated Publishers, 1948.
* Stanton, Elizabeth Cady; edited by Theodore Stanton and Harriot Stanton Blatch. [http://archive.org/details/elizabethcadyst00stangoog ''Elizabeth Cady Stanton, As Revealed in Her Letters, Diary and Reminiscences''], Harper & Brothers, 1922.
*Vogel, Todd, ed. ''The Black Press: New Literary and Historical Essays''. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2001.
*Webber, Thomas, ''Deep Like Rivers: Education in the Slave Quarter Community 1831–1865.'' New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. (1978).
*Woodson, C. G., ''The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861: A History of the Education of the Colored People of the United States from the Beginning of Slavery to the Civil War''. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons (1915); Indy Publ. (2005) ISBN 1-4219-2670-9

;For young readers
*Miller, William. ''Frederick Douglass: The Last Day of Slavery''. Illus. by Cedric Lucas. Lee & Low Books, 1995. ISBN 1-880000-42-3
*Weidt, Maryann N. ''Voice of Freedom: a Story about Frederick Douglass.'' Illus. by Jeni Reeves. Lerner Publications (2001). ISBN 1-57505-553-8

;Documentary films
*''[[Frederick Douglass and the White Negro]]'' [videorecording] / Writer/Director John J Doherty, produced by Camel Productions, Ireland. Irish Film Board/TG4/BCI.; 2008
*''Frederick Douglass'' [videorecording] / produced by Greystone Communications, Inc. for A&E Network ; executive producers, Craig Haffner and Donna E. Lusitana.; 1997
*''Frederick Douglass: When the Lion Wrote History'' [videorecording] / a co-production of ROJA Productions and WETA-TV.
*''Frederick Douglass, Abolitionist Editor'' [videorecording]/a production of Schlessinger Video Productions.
*''Race to Freedom'' [videorecording]: the story of the [[Underground Railroad]] / an Atlantis

==External links==
{{Sister project links|Frederick Douglass}}
'''Douglass sources online'''
*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927t.html Fourth of July Speech], "What to the slave is the 4th of July?," July 5, 1852
*[http://www.yale.edu/glc/archive/1121.htm Letter to Thomas Auld (September 3, 1848)]
*[http://www.iupui.edu/~douglass/ ''The Frederick Douglass Papers Edition''] : A Critical Edition of Douglass' Complete Works, including speeches, autobiographies, letters, and other writings.
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Douglass,+Frederick | name=Frederick Douglass}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Frederick Douglass}}
* {{Librivox author |id=4407}}
*[http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Douglass%2c%20Frederick%2c%201818%2d1895 Works by Frederick Douglass] at [[Online Books Page]]
*[http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass/menu.html ''Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.'' Written by Himself.] Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845.
*[http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass1853/menu.html ''The Heroic Slave. From Autographs for Freedom,'' Ed. Julia Griffiths.] Boston: John P. Jewett and Company. Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor, and Worthington. London: Low and Company., 1853.
*[http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass55/menu.html ''My Bondage and My Freedom. Part I. Life as a Slave. Part II. Life as a Freeman.''] New York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855.
*[http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglasslife/menu.html ''Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time''.] Hartford, Conn.: Park Publishing Co., 1881.
*[http://thelouvertureproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=Frederick_Douglass_lecture_on_Haiti_%281893%29 Frederick Douglass lecture on Haiti] – Given at the World's Fair in Chicago, January 1893.
*[http://frederickdouglassdiary.wikispaces.com/ ''The Frederick Douglass Diary'' (1886–87)]
*[http://www.theliberatorfiles.com/category/douglass-frederick/'' The Liberator Files''], Items concerning Frederick Douglass from Horace Seldon's collection and summary of research of William Lloyd Garrison's ''The Liberator,'' original copies at the Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts.
*Video. {{YouTube|ALXPUYWFbGI|In the Words of Frederick Douglass}} January 27, 2012.

'''Resource Guides'''
*[http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/douglass/ Frederick Douglass: Online Resources] from the Library of Congress

'''Biographical information'''
*[http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=2494 ''Frederick Douglass Project''], University of Rochester.
*[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/doughtml/doughome.html "Frederick Douglass"], (American Memory, [[Library of Congress]]) Includes timeline.
*[http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny-douglass-family.html Timeline of Frederick Douglass and family]
*[http://www.fdrccf.com/douglass.htm Timeline of "The Life of Frederick Douglass"] – Features key political events
*[http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/douglass/home.html Read more about Frederick Douglass]
*[http://www.nps.gov/frdo/fdlife.htm Frederick Douglass NHS – Douglass' Life]
*[http://www.nps.gov/frdo/cedar.htm Frederick Douglass NHS – Cedar Hill], [[National Park Service]] website
*[http://winningthevote.org/FDouglass.html Frederick Douglass] Western New York Suffragists
*[http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=69&subjectID=4 Mr. Lincoln and Freedom: Frederick Douglass]
*[http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?ID=38&subjectID=2 Mr. Lincoln's White House: Frederick Douglass]
*[http://www.americanwriters.org/writers/douglass.asp Frederick Douglass], at [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[American Writers: A Journey Through History]]''

'''Memorials to Frederick Douglass'''
*[http://www.nps.gov/frdo Frederick Douglass National Historic Site], Washington, DC home of Frederick Douglass
*[http://www.tkffdn.org/what/location/fdg.php Frederick Douglass Gardens at Cedar Hill], Frederick Douglass Gardens
*[http://www.43places.com/places/view/3017188/frederick-douglass-circle-central-harlem-harlem Frederick Douglass Circle], in Harlem overlooking [[Central Park]] has a [http://www.43places.com/places/view/3017189/frederick-douglass-statue-frederick-douglass-circle-central-harlem statue of Frederick Douglass.] North of this point, 8th Avenue is referred to as Frederick Douglass Boulevard
*[http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historians/fellowship2.html The Frederick Douglass Prize], a national book prize
*[http://battleofolustee.org/douglass.html Lewis N. Douglass] as a [[Sergeant Major]] in the [[54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry]]
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.ntis.ava16378vnb1|name=Fighter for Freedom: The Frederick Douglass Story (1984)}}

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{{s-bef|before = New title}} 
{{s-ttl|title = [[Equal Rights Party (United States)|United States Equal Rights Party Vice-Presidential Nominee]]|years = 1872}} 
{{s-aft|after = [[Marietta Stow]] ''(National Equal Rights Party)''}}
{{S-end}}

{{Slave narrative|state=expanded}}
{{Suffrage}}
{{American Civil War|Origins}}
{{African-American Civil Rights Movement}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglass, Frederick}}
[[Category:Frederick Douglass| ]]
[[Category:1818 births]]
[[Category:1895 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century African-American activists]]
[[Category:19th-century American diplomats]]
[[Category:19th-century American newspaper editors]]
[[Category:19th-century American newspaper founders]]
[[Category:19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)]]
[[Category:19th-century American writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Christians]]
[[Category:19th-century journalists]]
[[Category:African-American abolitionists]]
[[Category:African-American activists]]
[[Category:African-American businesspeople]]
[[Category:African-American Christians]]
[[Category:African-American diplomats]]
[[Category:African-American feminists]]
[[Category:African-American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:African-American politicians]]
[[Category:African-American publishers (people)]]
[[Category:African-American United States vice-presidential candidates]]
[[Category:African-American writers]]
[[Category:African-Americans' civil rights activists]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Haiti]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to the Dominican Republic]]
[[Category:American autobiographers]]
[[Category:American feminists]]
[[Category:American memoirists]]
[[Category:American slaves]]
[[Category:American suffragists]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester]]
[[Category:Christian feminists]]
[[Category:History of Maryland]]
[[Category:Journalists from Maryland]]
[[Category:Journalists from Upstate New York]]
[[Category:Journalists from Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Lecturers]]
[[Category:Male feminists]]
[[Category:Maryland Republicans]]
[[Category:New York Republicans]]
[[Category:People from Rochester, New York]]
[[Category:People from Talbot County, Maryland]]
[[Category:Social reformers]]
[[Category:United States Marshals]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1888]]
[[Category:United States vice-presidential candidates, 1872]]
[[Category:Washington, D.C. Republicans]]
[[Category:Writers from Baltimore, Maryland]]
[[Category:Writers from New York]]
[[Category:Writers from Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:American libertarians]]