Biography frederick douglass autobiography excerpts

After escaping from slavery in 1838 at the age of 30, Frederick Douglass participated in the Abolitionist movement in the North, appearing regularly as a lecturer. He published his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life, in 1845 (he was to publish two more), exposing himself to the risk of re-enslavement.

He left in the same year for a trip to England, where, with the help of sympathetic Liberals, he was able to amass enough money to buy his freedom and establish his own newspaper, The North Star, when he returned to the States. He advocated a practical political approach to abolitionism, not simply an uncompromising moralist approach.

Biography frederick douglass autobiography excerpts movie

He campaigned for the rights of women, participating in the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, and would later advocate participating within the Republican Party. During the war, he helped recruit African Americans for the Union army and he advised President Lincoln.

After the war, he supported Reconstruction and Republican Presidents and served