The Narrative Of Frederick Douglas's Life

Frederick Douglass was born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, around 1818. It is unknown of the exact date of his birth. Later in life he chose to celebrate it on February 14. Douglass lived with his maternal grandmother, Betty Bailey. At a young age, Douglass was designated to live in the home of the plantation owners. His mother, died when he was around 10. His father is thought to be one of the slave owners’ which he lived with. Frederick Douglass was ultimately sent to the Baltimore, to the home of Hugh Auld. Hugh Auld’s wife Sophia taught Douglass the alphabet when he was around 12, in disregard to the ban of teaching slaves. Once Auld discovered his wife doing, he forbade her to continue.

Frederick Douglass joined a black church and regularly attended abolitionist meetings. Douglass had told his story at the abolitionist meeting, after which he became a regular anti-slavery lecturer. William Lloyd Garrison, writer for The Liberator, wrote a story about Douglass. After which Douglass delivered his first speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society 's annual convention. With the encouragement of Garrison, Douglass wrote and published his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, in 1845.

Following the publication of his autobiography, Douglass left for Ireland to avoid recapture. He remained in Ireland and Britain for two years, giving speeches on the evils of slavery. He soon returned to the United States as a free man in 1847, by the British supporters, whom purchased his legal freedom.

In addition to abolition, Douglass became an outspoken supporter of women’s rights. In 1848, he was the only African American to attend the first women 's rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York. In support of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, women’s right to suffrage, contending that he could not accept the right to vote as a black man if women could not also claim that