Reliving Frederick Douglass's Life
Wearing a tall black hat and a black coat with tails, Frederick Douglass IV stands before a group of spellbound students. He is portraying one of the most famous men in American history: his great-great-grandfather, Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery, Douglass escaped and spent the rest of his life working to end slavery.
Douglass was born on a farm in Maryland around 1818. His owner sent him to work in Baltimore when he was still a child. Douglass wanted badly to learn how to read and write, but teaching enslaved people to read was against the law. Using books he found in the house where he worked, Douglass secretly taught himself to read and write. He probably never suspected he would become a great writer one day.
The Narrative
At the age of twenty, Douglass escaped to the North, where slavery was illegal. One day he attended an abolitionist, or antislavery, meeting. When the leaders of the meeting learned of his past, they asked him to speak. Douglass described what his life in slavery had been like. The audience hung on his every word. That day Douglass discovered he had a gift for public speaking.
Douglass was soon giving speeches for the Massachusetts Antislavery Society all over the Northeast. He expressed himself so well that some people did not believe he had been enslaved. To convince doubters and to reach more people than he could giving speeches, Douglass wrote a book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: Written by Himself. The book came out in 1845 and sold many copies. Douglass became famous. His book turned more people against slavery.
Freedom
Douglass's fame brought danger with it. He could not keep his existence secret. He risked being arrested and returned to slavery in Maryland. He decided to go to England, where no one could arrest him. In England he kept speaking out against slavery. English friends gathered money to buy Douglass's freedom. In 1846 Douglass paid his former owner $711 and became legally free.
Rochester Connection
When he returned to the United States, Douglass settled in Rochester, New York, where many people were against slavery. Douglass started a newspaper called the North Star. He wrote editorials and books against slavery. He continued giving speeches. During the Civil War, he moved to Washington D.C., and met with President Lincoln. Shortly after the Civil War, the cause Douglass had fought for all his life came true: slavery became illegal in the United States.
Today Frederick Douglass IV believes his great-great-grandfather's life can be an inspiration for students. He enacts scenes from Frederick Douglass's life and distributes free copies of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass every month.