William Lloyd Garrison - MS. BROWN'S SOCIAL STUDIES CLASS



Frederick Douglass -190505715Frederick Douglass was born in 1818 as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. He was the son of a slave woman and an unknown white man. He was an American abolitionist, editor, orator (speaker), author, statesman and reformer. Douglass is one of the most important figures in United States history. He firmly believed in the equality of all people, whether black, woman, Native American, or recent immigrant to the United States. He was fond of saying, "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."Early on was exposed to the cruelty of slavery. He spent his early years seeing his mother only four or five times before her death. He spent much of his childhood cold and hungry. He was whipped daily and barely fed after being sold. Douglass described his experience saying that he was "broken in body, soul, and spirit." How would being beaten daily break his body, soul, and spirit?In 1836, Douglass began planning an escape but was put in jail when someone found out his plan. Two years later, Douglass escaped while living in Baltimore and working at a shipyard. He fled by train and steamboat to New York City the following day. Several weeks later he had settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, living with his new bride (whom he met in Baltimore and married in New York) under his new name, Frederick Douglass.He joined various organizations in New Bedford, including a black church, and regularly attended abolitionist meetings. He subscribed to William Lloyd Garrison's weekly journal The Liberator, and heard Garrison speak in 1841. Douglass was inspired by Garrison once said that "no face and form ever impressed me with [his hatred of slavery] as did those of William Lloyd Garrison." Garrison was likewise impressed with Douglass and wrote of him in The Liberator. Several days later, Douglass delivered his first speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society's annual convention. He was just 23, but he began describing his experience as an enslaved person and escape with such eloquence (expressiveness or persuasiveness) that he was encouraged to become an anti-slavery orator.In 1843, Douglass participated in a six-month tour of anti-slavery talks called the American Anti-Slavery Society's Hundred Conventions project. He also participated in the Seneca Falls Convention which discussed Women’s Rights. It is considered the birthplace of the American women’s rights movement. There they signed its Declaration of Sentiments which states that: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…” (The Declaration of Sentiments, par. 1). How is this different from the Declaration of Independence?Douglass' 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 and racists attacked the book. They didn’t believe that a black man could be smart enough to produce such an eloquent piece of literature. Nevertheless, the book received generally positive reviews and it became an immediate bestseller. Within three years, the autobiography had been reprinted nine times with 11,000 copies circulating in the United States. Two years later he published his own newspaper, The North Star. Why would Douglass call his newspaper The North Star? (ask Harriet Tubman readers for help)4042410494030The book's success had an unfortunate side effect: 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, where the anti-slavery movement was popular. Douglass set sail for Liverpool, England on August 16, 1845, and arrived in Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine was beginning. Douglass spent two years in Great Britain and Ireland and gave many lectures, mainly in Protestant churches or chapels. His draw was such that some were "crowded to suffocation."It was during this trip that Douglass became officially free. His speeches about slavery and his experiences got the crowds excited and he became quite famous. He raised the money to pay off his former owner Hugh Auld to become legally free. When he returned to the U.S. he began traveling and giving speeches all over the country. During the winter of 1855-1856 -- he gave about 70 lectures during a tour that covered four to five thousand miles. On July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a speech at an event celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.One of his most famous speeches, an angry oratory called, "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” He said, “I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham…your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless…This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn (weep)…” What did Douglass believe was hypocritical about the 4th of July? Frederick Douglass would continue his active involvement to better the lives of African Americans. He met with Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and recruited northern blacks to join the Union Army of the North. After the War ended in 1865 and slavery was abolished, he fought for the rights of women and African Americans rights alike. In 1872, Douglass was nominated as the vice presidential candidate on the Equal Rights Party ticket with Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for President of the United States. Douglass served briefly as President of the Freedmen's National Bank, and in various national service positions, including US Marshal for the District of Columbia, and diplomatic positions in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He died in 1895."Africans in America: Frederick Douglass". PBS. January 10, 2010 <;."The Declaration of Sentiments". U.S. Constitution Online. January 10, 2010 <;. ................
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