Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) combined abolitionism and advocacy for women's voting rights with work as an orator, newspaper publisher and author. Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in Maryland, he learned to read while enslaved and escaped to New York in 1838 with help from Anna Murray, whom he soon married. His first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, appeared in 1845 and established the details of his early life in print. After speaking in Britain and Ireland, he returned legally free and settled in Rochester, where he founded The North Star. My Bondage and My Freedom followed in 1855, expanding the earlier account and addressing racial segregation in the North. Douglass later published Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, served in federal posts, and continued campaigning for equal citizenship. His three autobiographies combine personal testimony with arguments against slavery, making his life story part of his wider political work.