Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Cordova, Maryland, sometime in the late 1810s; though he did not know his exact birthdate, he chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14 due to his mother’s nickname of “Little Valentine” for him. Many people believed that his father was his mother’s enslaver, but he was never able to verify this. Douglass grew up on a plantation but was eventually sent to Baltimore, where he served Hugh Auld and his wife Sophia. Sophia was initially kind to Douglass and even educated him; although she eventually caved to her husband’s influence and stopped doing so, Douglass continued to teach himself to read and write in secret. The materials he read helped form his political opinions as well as introduce him to Christianity, which he converted to. In 1837, Douglass escaped slavery thanks to the influence of Anna Murray, a free woman he had fallen in love with. The two married and initially settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Douglass began to build his career as a preacher, orator, and abolitionist. As time went on, he built a reputation among abolitionists for his strong rhetoric skills, and he performed many influential speeches throughout his life. While he was most well-known for his abolitionist work, he was also active in the women’s rights movement and advocated for women’s suffrage. Douglass died of a heart attack on February 20, 1895, having lived to see his own freedom along with the freedom of millions of other slaves. His funeral was attended by thousands of people.