Importance of Individuals in American Reform Project-

Frederick Douglass

By: Leah Hoogerhyde

Biographical Information- Early Life

• Born: February 1818, Talbot County, Maryland. • Mother, Harriet Bailey, was a slave. • Did not know his father, but believed that

his father was a white man.• Lived with his grandmother until about

the age of six, when he was forced to leave her to serve as a slave on a planation.

Biographical Information-Young Adult Life

• Went to live with the Auld family, in Baltimore, at the age of eight to serve as a house servant• Learned how to read while in Baltimore• Decided to run away and escape to freedom• Went to other places, serving as a slave, tried

and failed to run away• Was often treated with cruelty• Finally succeeded in running away in 1838

Baltimore during the 1800s:

Biographical Information- Life while Free

• As a free person, lived in New York City and New Bedford, Mass.

• Changed his name to Douglass to avoid recapture• Married his wife, Anna, shortly after running away• Had two children• Joined the Abolitionist movement• Became a consultant to Abraham Lincoln and

advocated for emancipation• Was eventually made the US minister and consul

general to Haiti in 1889• Died: February 20, 1895, Washington, D.C.

Young Douglass:

Douglass’ wife, Anna Murray Douglass:

The Abolitionist Movement

• Began in the 1830s, lasted until the 1870s• Movement goal- the immediate emancipation of all

slaves and the end of racial discrimination and segregation

• Influenced by the Second Great Awakening• Most abolitionists were northerners• Opposed slavery for many different reasons:

economic, political, religious, moral. -Political and economic: north wanted to gain

influence

The Abolitionist Movement(cont.)• Was a factor in the break between the North and South which

lead to the civil war.• Well known abolitionists: William Lloyd Garrison(the Liberator

publisher), Theodore D. Weld, Arthur and Lewis Tappan, and Elizur Wright, Jr.

• Abolitionists formed the American Anti-Slavery society -Eventually the Society split due to conflicting beliefs• Many abolitionists also supported other societal reforms,

including women’s rights, pacifism, and education.

Garrison:

The Liberator:

The Abolitionist Movement(cont.)

• Partially achieved goal with the passage of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.

• Further achieved goals with the passage of the 15th Amendment, which gave suffrage to African American men.

• Achieved most of its goals, but racial prejudice still existed.

• The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded later in 1909, continued the fight against racial prejudice.

Contributions of Frederick Douglass

• Joined African American organizations in New Bedford, Mass.

• Began to attend Abolitionist meetings• Subscribed to Garrison’s Liberator• Gave a speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery

Society's annual convention in Nantucket• Began to do lectures for the Anti-Slavery Society• Became one of the movement’s best speakers

along with Wendell Phillips and Lucy Stone

Contributions of Frederick Douglass(cont.)

• In 1845, he wrote Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave.

-In the Narrative he hoped to educate people by showing them what slavery was really like.

• Three years later, Douglass began publishing The North Star(1847-1860)

• The North Star was a newspaper that advocated against slavery. • Participated in the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls,

in 1848• Advocated for in equal rights for all people• Traveled to Europe for two years, convinced many people to

support the abolitionist cause

The North Star:

Contributions of Frederick Douglass(cont.)

•Helped many people on the underground railroad escape to freedom•Gave a Fourth of July Speech in 1852 -In speech, showed that hypocrisy of a nation which claims to cherish liberty and equality•Supported the Free Soil Party and after, in 1856, the Republican Party•Favored the Civil War because he believed it may lead to emancipation•Became an advisor to Lincoln during the Civil War and encouraged him to emancipate all of the slaves immediately

Contributions of Frederick Douglass(cont.)

• Recruited free African Americans to the Union army( many achieved very distinguished service records)

• During Reconstruction Douglass tried to gain full civil rights for all people

• "Slavery is not abolished until the African-American man has the vote."

• Spoke out against lynching• Advocated for the desegregation of schools in order to

give African Americans the opportunity for a good education

Effects of Douglass’ Contributions

• Douglass, as one of the most influential and active people involved with the abolitionist movement, help contribute to all of the following results of the movement.

• Emancipation Proclamation put into affect on January 1, 1863

• Fugitive Slave Law(forced the returning of slaves) was repealed in 1864

• Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in 1865• Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1870

Effects of Douglass’ Contributions

• Nineteenth Amendment passed in 1920(gave women the right to vote)

• Abolitionist founded Oberlin College(1833) was successfully non- segregated

-Gave African Americans the opportunity to go to college

• The Oneida Institute was founded(1899), from which many African-American leaders graduated