Frederick Douglass Fight For Freedom Essay

Frederick Douglass: A Fight for Freedom

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland in the year 1818. His real birthday is not known, but later in his life he chose it to be February fourteenth. Like his birthday, his real father as also unknown, although he knew it was a white man and had assumed it was his mother’s owner. At age ten, his mother passed away and left him alone in the world of slavery. Unlike most slaves, he started to get an education at a young age. He learned the alphabet and how to read and write from his new owner’s wife. When her husband found out she had been teaching slaves, he forced her to stop her lessons. This did not stop Douglass from learning, and he continued by reading newspapers and from other educated

During the Civil War, he debated with Abraham Lincoln on helping black soldiers and how they should treated after the war. He also debated with Andrew Jackson on whether or not blacks should be allowed to vote. His first political position was the presidency of The Freedman’s savings bank, which was created for the newly freed African Americans after South and slavery lost in the Civil War. He was also chargé d’affaires for the Dominican Republic, a substitution position for the ambassador. He then became a minister resident of Haiti, and later moved up to a Consul-General. That wasn’t all for his political popularity. Because of his fame, he was a nominated candidate for the vice presidency of the United States, but he didn’t accept. This was a huge change for America and for African Americans (and eventually the Civil Rights Movement) because he would be the first African American to be on the presidential ballot. Throughout his whole life, Frederick Douglass stood up for what he believed in despite his fears or how impossible it seemed. He accomplished a huge amount of things and paved the way for other African Americans to follow. He gave hope to them that they could too be equal and free one day. He died in 1895 but is still greatly remembered for his achievements in the abolitionist