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Frederick Douglass' Life
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Frederick Douglass is born
Born as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey,a slave, in Tuckahoe, Talbot County, In Maryland. His mother is a slave as well, Harriet Bailey, and his father is rumored to be his master, Aaron Anthony. He doesn't get to see his mother for very long before being seperated from her -
Moving to Baltimore and Mother's death
His mother dies in this year and so Frederick is forced to move to Baltimore with Hugh Auld and his wife Sophia. His master, Aaron Anthony, later dies so Frederick becomes property of Thomas Auld, Anthony's son-in-law. Thomas Auld then sends Frederick back to Baltimore with Hugh Auld. -
Taught to Read
In this year, he asks Sophia Auld, Hugh's wife, if she can teach him to read. She accepts and shows Frederick most of the basic 3 and 4 letter words. She does this until Hugh Auld finds out, and makes her stop, believing that teaching them to read makes them rebellious. -
Learning of the Abolitionist Movement
Frederick reads a newspaper article on John Quincy Adams's antislavery petitions in Congress. He also learns of the abolitionist movement from that as well. He then buys copies of The Columbian Orator, with which he uses to improve his reading and speaking skills. -
Broken but Rebuilt
Auld rents him out to farmer Edward Covey, known as a "slave breaker." He is beaten several times and finally fights back with the help of another slave. The slave gave Frederick a tree root that was supposedly helping him. Covey never tries to beat him again after Frederick beat him and his white helpers. -
Free At Last
Frederick uses a sailors papers to be able to try and escape to the North. He takes a risk since he looks nothing like the sailor, so he also travels by boat. He arrives in New York and changes his last name to Johnson and then to Douglass so he isn't recognized. -
New Child and Reading
In this year, Douglass' daugher Annie is born, making her 1 on 3 children born from him. He also teaches his wife, Anna, to read but his effort not being succesful. She was, as he was, another slave that had escaped. -
Fleeing Farther North
John Brown and other abolitionist followers attack the federal camp at Harpers Ferry, then in Virginia. He plans to start a slave "revolution" and provide shelter for fleeing slaves. Federal troops capture him, and he is eventually tried and hanged. Police find a letter from Douglass to Brown, so Douglass flees to Canada and then to England to escape arrest on charges of being an accomplice in Brown's raid. -
Helping the Union
Frederick Douglass met with Abraham Lincoln to discuss the poor pay the black soldiers received. They also discuss about plans to help slaves from the South escape to the north. With this they would have a better chance of beating the South in case they didn't win the war entirely -
Becoming a Leader
Douglass is appointed U.S. marshal of the District of Columbia by President Hayes. This made him the first African American Marshal in all of US history. This is also strange as he was being chased down by many Marshal's and now he becomes one, and an important one at that. -
Frederick Douglass' Death
Being one of the greatest man of his time, Frederick Douglass died on February 20th due to a heart failure. He had been presenting a speech in Washington DC to National Council of Women. He had suddenly died while explaining the meeting to his wife later that night.
