While it is true that Frederick Douglass would have been a notable character in any period, it is also true that in the life of hardly any other man was there comprehended so great a variety of incidents of what is perhaps the most memorable epoch in our history. The mere personal side of Douglass’s life, though romantic and interesting, is here treated only in outline.
S. Laing Williams, of Chicago, Ill., and his wife, Fannie Barrier Williams, have been of incalculable service in the preparation of this volume. Mr. Williams enjoyed a long and intimate acquaintance with Mr. Douglass, and I have been privileged to draw heavily upon his fund of information. He and Mrs. Williams have reviewed this manuscript since its preparation and have given it their cordial approval.
In addition to these sources of information, I wish to make grateful acknowledgment of my indebtedness to Major Charles R. Douglass for the use of many printed addresses, and for interesting data showing his father’s work in the Underground Railway.
I must also acknowledge my sense of gratitude for the opportunity afforded in this work of getting close to the heart and life of this great leader of my race. No Negro can read and study the life of Frederick Douglass without deriving from it courage to look up and forward.
CONTENTS
| Chronology | [11] | |
| I. | Frederick Douglass, the Slave | [15] |
| II. | Back to Plantation-Life | [33] |
| III. | Escape from Slavery; Learning the Ways of Freedom | [54] |
| IV. | Beginning of His Public Career | [69] |
| V. | Slavery and Anti-Slavery | [83] |
| VI. | Seeks Refuge in England | [99] |
| VII. | Home Again as a Freeman—New Problems and New Triumphs | [116] |
| VIII. | Free Colored People and Colonization | [139] |
| IX. | The Underground Railway and the Fugitive Slave Law | [157] |
| X. | Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe and John Brown | [174] |
| XI. | Forebodings of the Crisis | [195] |
| XII. | Douglass’s Services in the Civil War | [217] |
| XIII. | Early Problems of Freedom | [245] |
| XIV. | Sharing the Responsibilities and Honors of Freedom | [273] |
| XV. | Further Evidences of Popular Esteem, with Glimpses Into the Past | [302] |
| XVI. | Final Honors to the Living and Tributes to the Dead | [334] |
| Bibliography | [353] | |
| Index | [355] |
CHRONOLOGY
1817— February. Born on a plantation at Tuckahoe, near the town of Easton, Talbot County, on the eastern shore of Maryland; the exact date not known. His mother, Harriet Bailey, was the slave of Captain Aaron Anthony, the manager of the estate of Colonel Edward Lloyd. 1825— Sent to Baltimore to live with Hugh Auld, a relative of his master. 1833— Returns to Maryland and becomes the slave of Thomas Auld, at St. Michaels, Talbot County; while here he has an encounter with the Negro slave-breaker, Covey. 1836— First attempt to run away results in his being sent back to Baltimore where he is apprenticed by Thomas Auld to William Gardiner of Fells Point, to learn the trade of ship-calker. 1838— September 3d. Makes his escape from Baltimore, reaching New York the next day. September 15th, according to the marriage certificate, possibly a day earlier, he marries a free colored woman, Anna Murray, who on receiving the news of his escape follows him to New York. They are directed to New Bedford, Mass., by Anti-Slavery friends where Douglass begins his life as a freeman. He changes his name from Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, to Frederick Douglass. 1841— August 11th. Makes his first speech before an Anti-Slavery convention and becomes a lecturer in the Anti-Slavery cause. 1842— Participates in the campaign for equal rights in Rhode Island during the “Dorr Rebellion.” 1843— Takes part in the campaign of “A Hundred Anti-Slavery Conventions”; his hand broken in a fight with a mob at Pendleton, Indiana.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS