by Anne Schraff
American reformer and civil rights advocate Elizabeth Cady Stanton recalled Douglass as “like an African prince, majestic in his wrath as with wit, satire and indignation he graphically described the bitterness of slavery.”9
Frederick Douglass himself may have written his most fitting epitaph in 1880 when he said that his life “has at times been dark and stormy,” but also “remarkably full of sunshine and joy.” He acknowledged “warmest gratitude for the allotments of life that have fallen to me,” concluding that he had not “lived in vain.”10
CHRONOLOGY
1818—Frederick Bailey is born in Tuckahoe, Maryland.
1824—Is sent to work as a slave for master Aaron Anthony.
1826—Is sent to Hugh and Sophia Auld in Baltimore.
1838—Escapes to New York and freedom; marries Anna Murray; changes his last name to Douglass.
1841—Makes first antislavery speech.
1845—First book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, is published.
1847—Becomes publisher of The North Star.
1855—My Bondage and My Freedom is published.
1870—Becomes editor of New National Era.
1874—Becomes president of Freedman’s Savings and Trust.
1877—Becomes U.S. marshal for the District of Columbia.
1881—Becomes recorder of deeds, Washington, D.C.; Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is published.
1882—Anna Douglass dies.
1884—Marries Helen Pitts.
1889—Becomes U.S. consul general to Haiti.
1895—Dies on February 20 in Washington, D.C.
CHAPTER NOTES
Chapter 1. “I Was a Man Now”
1. Dickson J. Preston, Young Frederick Douglass, The Maryland Years (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980), p. 121.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997; first published in 1845), p. 48.
5. Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (New York: Library of America, 1994; first published in 1881), p. 588.
6. Ibid., p. 590.
7. Gregory P. Lampe, Frederick Douglass, Freedom’s Voice, 1818–1845 (East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 1998), p. 21.
8. Life and Times, p. 591.
Chapter 2. Somebody’s Child
1. Dickson J. Preston, Young Frederick Douglass, The Maryland Years (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980), p. 23.
2. William S. McFeely, Frederick Douglass (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991), p. 8.
3. Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (New York: Library of America, 1994; first published in 1855), p. 143.
4. McFeely, p. 8.
5. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997; first published in 1845), p. 13.
6. Bondage, p. 152.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Preston, p. 38.
10. Ibid., p. 39.
11. Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (New York: Library of America, 1994; first published in 1881), p. 480.
12. Preston, p. 39.
13. McFeely, p. 12.
14. Ibid., p. 18.
15. Preston, p. 63.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid., p. 64.
18. Bondage, p. 155.
19. Life and Times, p. 519.
20. Bondage, p. 207.
21. Barbara Ritchie, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1966), p. 19.
22. Narrative, p. 33.
23. Ibid., p. 27.
24. Preston, p. 84.
25. Narrative, p. 28.
Chapter 3. Lessons in Freedom
1. Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (New York: Library of America, 1994; first published in 1855), p. 215.
2. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997; first published in 1845), p. 28.
3. Ibid.
4. Dickson J. Preston, Young Frederick Douglass, The Maryland Years (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980), p. 86.
5. Ibid., p. 93.
6. Bondage, p. 237.
7. Narrative, p. 32.
8. Ibid.
Chapter 4. The Turning Point
1. Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (New York: Library of America, 1994; first published in 1855), p. 254.
2. Ibid., p. 255.
3. Gregory P. Lampe, Frederick Douglass, Freedom’s Voice, 1818–1845 (East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 1998), p. 21.
4. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997; first published in 1845), p. 54.
5. Dickson J. Preston, Young Frederick Douglass, The Maryland Years (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980), p. 136.
6. Ibid., p. 137.
7. Bondage, p. 324.
8. William S. McFeely, Frederick Douglass (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991), p. 56.
Chapter 5. Dream of Freedom Fulfilled
1. Dickson J. Preston, Young Frederick Douglass, The Maryland Years (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980), p. 144.
2. Ibid., p. 145.
3. Ibid.
4. William S. McFeely, Frederick Douglass (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991), p. 65.
5. Gregory P. Lampe, Frederick Douglass, Freedom’s Voice, 1818–1845 (East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 1998), p. 26.
6. Benjamin Quarles, Frederick Douglass (Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishing, 1948), p. 9.
7. Lampe, p. 44.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
Chapter 6. An Orator Is Born
1. Barbara Ritchie, The Mind and Heart of Frederick Douglass (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1968), p. 43.
2. Ibid., p. 45.
3. Benjamin Quarles, Frederick Douglass (Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishing, 1948), p. 297.
4. Gregory P. Lampe, Frederick Douglass, Freedom’s Voice, 1818–1845 (East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 1998), p. 43.
5. William S. McFeely, Frederick Douglass (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991), p. 95.
6. Ibid., p. 100.
7. John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1994), p. 182.
8. McFeely, p. 145.
9. Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (New York: Library of America, 1994; first published in 1881), p. 1058.
10. Ibid., p. 712.
11. Quarles, p. 131.
12. Ritchie, p. 75.
13. Ibid., p. 78.
14. McFeely, p. 173.
Chapter 7. Fighting for Freedom
1. John D. Hedrick, Harriet Beecher Stowe (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 252.
2. Richard Hofstadter, The United States: The History of a Republic (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967), p. 309.
3. Barbara Ritchie, The Mind and Heart of Frederick Douglass (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1968), p. 35.
4. Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (New York: Library of America, 1994; first published in 1881), p. 759.
5. William S. McFeely, Frederick Douglass (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991), p. 203.
6. Ibid., p. 207.
7. Benjamin Quarles, Frederick Douglass (Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishing, 1948), p. 109.
8. McFeely, p. 187.
9. Russell Freedman, Lincoln, A Photobiography (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987), p. 5.
10. McFeely, p. 209.
11. Ibid.
12. Quarles, p. 109.
13. Ibid., p. 110.
14. McFeely, p. 226.
15. Ibid.
16
. Ibid.
17. Life and Times, p. 785.
18. Ibid., p. 786.
19. Freedman, p. 104.
Chapter 8. The Struggle for Equality
1. William S. McFeely, Frederick Douglass (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991), p. 230.
2. Barbara Ritchie, The Mind and Heart of Frederick Douglass (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1968), p. 131.
3. Ibid., p. 143.
4. Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (New York: Library of America, 1994; first published in 1881), p. 802.
5. Benjamin Quarles, Frederick Douglass (Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishing, 1948), p. 226.
6. Richard Hofstadter, The United States: The History of a Republic (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967), p. 457.
7. Ida Husted Harper, The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Indianapolis, Ind.: Hollenbeck Press, 1898), p. 324.
8. Ritchie, pp. 166–167.
9. McFeely, p. 275.
10. John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1994), p. 237.
11. Ibid.
12. William S. McFeely, Grant, A Biography (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1981), p. 427.
13. Life and Times, p. 876.
14. Ibid., p. 877.
15. Corrine K. Hoexter, Black Crusader (New York: Rand McNally Company, 1970), p. 195.
16. Ibid.
17. Life and Times, p. 877.
Chapter 9. Sorrow and Sunshine
1. William S. McFeely, Frederick Douglass (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991), p. 297.
2. Dick Russell, Black Genius (New York: Carroll and Graf Publishing, Inc., 1998), p. 281.
3. Rayford Logan and Irving S. Cohen, The American Negro (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970), pp. 141–142.
4. McFeely, p. 312.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (New York: Library of America, 1994; first published in 1881), p. 966.
8. Ibid., p. 968.
9. Benjamin Quarles, Frederick Douglass (Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishing, 1948), p. 298.
10. Ibid., p. 299.
11. McFeely, p. 320.
12. Quarles, p. 298.
13. Benjamin Quarles, ed., Frederick Douglass (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968), p. 171.
14. McFeely, p. 331.
Chapter 10. Haiti and the Final Days
1. William S. McFeely, Frederick Douglass (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991), p. 360.
2. Rayford Logan and Irving S. Cohen, The American Negro (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1870), p. 138.
3. McFeely, p. 363.
4. Benjamin Quarles, Frederick Douglass (Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishing, 1948), p. 340.
5. Philip S. Foner, Frederick Douglass (New York: Citadel Press, 1964), p. 366.
6. Ibid., pp. 366–367.
7. Ibid., p. 367.
8. Ibid., p. 366.
9. McFeely, pp. 382–383.
10. Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (New York: The Library of America, 1994; first published in 1881), p. 1045.
FURTHER READING
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
———. My Bondage and My Freedom. New York: Library of America, 1994.
———. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. New York: Library of America, 1994.
Foner, Philip S. Frederick Douglass. New York: Citadel Press, 1994.
Hoexter, Corinne K. Black Crusader. New York: Rand McNally Company, 1970.
Lutz, Norma Jean. Frederick Douglass: Abolitionist and Author. Broomall, Pa.: Chelsea House, 2000.
Quarles, Benjamin. Frederick Douglass. Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishing, 1948.
Russell, Sherman Apt. Frederick Douglass, Abolitionist Editor. New York: Chelsea House, 1988.
Weidt, Maryann. Voice of Freedom: A Story About Frederick Douglass. The Lerner Publishing Group, 2001.
INDEX
A
Adams, John Quincy, 21
American Anti–Slavery Society, 24, 43
Andrew, John A., 60–61
Anthony, Aaron, 13–16, 20
Anthony, Andrew, 14, 20
Anthony, Richard, 14, 20
Anthony, Susan B., 66–67, 83
Auld, Amanda, 25
Auld, Hugh, 17, 18–20, 23, 31, 32, 34–35
Auld, Lucretia, 14, 20
Auld, Rowena, 23, 25, 27–28, 30
Auld, Sophia, 17
Auld, Thomas, 7, 14, 17, 20, 23–24, 25–28, 30–31, 43, 45, 47–48
Auld, Tommy, 17, 19–21, 32
Aunt Katy, 13–14
B
Bailey, Arianna (sister), 10–11
Bailey, Betsy (grandmother), 8–9, 70
Bailey, Eliza (sister), 10–11, 27
Bailey, Esther (aunt), 8
Bailey, Frederick. See Douglass, Frederick
Bailey, Harriet (mother), 8–9, 14
Bailey, Isaac (grandfather), 8–9
Bailey, Jenny (aunt), 8
Bailey, Kitty (sister), 10–11
Bailey, Milly (aunt), 8
Bailey, Perry (brother), 10–12, 72–73
Bailey, Priscilla (aunt), 8
Bailey, Sarah (sister), 10–11
Baltimore, Maryland, 16–17, 18, 20–22, 25, 31, 32, 35–36
Blaine, James, 77–78
Brown, John, 55–56
Buchanan, James, 56, 58
C
Cedar Hill, 71, 72, 75–77, 82–83
Coffin, William, 39
Cleveland, Grover, 77, 81
Covey, Edward, 5–7, 28
D
Douglass, Anna (wife), 35–38, 40, 43, 47, 49, 51–52, 57, 60, 68, 71, 73–74, 84
Douglass, Annie (daughter), 50, 57, 84
Douglass, Charles (son), 46, 60–61, 63, 65–66, 72, 82
Douglass, Charley Paul (grandson), 82
Douglass, Frederick
bank president, 68
childhood, 8–17, 18–24
consul general to Haiti, 77–78, 79–81
death, 83–84
escape from slavery, 35–36
first speech, 39, 40
marriages, 37, 75–76
marshal of the District of Columbia, 69, 73
name change, 37
recorder of deeds, 73–74
speeches, 39, 40–43, 46–48, 52–53, 56, 58, 67, 77, 83
Douglass, Frederick Jr. (son), 43, 60–61, 80, 82
Douglass, Haley George (grandson), 82
Douglass, Helen (wife), 74–76, 79, 81–84
Douglass, Joseph (grandson), 82
Douglass, Lewis Henry (son), 39, 49, 60–61, 65, 67, 82
Douglass, Rosetta. See Sprague, Rosetta
E
Emancipation Proclamation, 60, 77
F
Frederick Douglass’s Paper, 52
Freedmen’s Bureau, 65–66
Freeland, William, 28–29
Fugitive Slave Act, 52, 59
G
Garfield, James, 73
Garrison, William Lloyd, 24, 38–39, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48–49, 53, 54–55
Grant, Ulysses S., 64, 66–69
Griffiths, Julia, 48, 50–51, 56, 76
H
Harrison, Benjamin, 77, 80–81
Hayes, Rutherford, 69
Hyppolite, Florvil, 79–81
J
Jenkins, Sandy, 29–30
Johnson, Andrew, 65–66
Johnson, Frederick. See Douglass, Frederick
Johnson, Nathan, 38
L
Lee, Robert E., 56, 64
Legitime, Francois, 79–80
Liberator, The, 24, 38, 42, 49
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, 73
Lincoln, Abraham, 57–60, 62, 63–65, 77
Lloyd, Daniel, 15, 19
M
McClellan, George, 63
Murray, Anna. See Douglass, Anna
Murray, Bambarra, 35
Murray, Mary, 35
My Bondage and My Freedom, 53
N
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, The, 46
New National Era, 67–68
North Star, The, 49–50, 52
P
Phillipps, Wendell, 46
Pitts, Helen. See Douglass, Helen
R
Ruggles, David, 36–37
S
Sherman, William T., 64
slavery, 5–7, 8, 10, 12–17, 19–24, 25–31, 35–39, 40–49, 51–53, 54–60, 62, 64–66, 68, 70, 72, 76–78, 84–85
Sprague, Nathan, 60, 65, 68
Sprague, Rosetta (daughter),38, 41, 49–50, 56–57, 60, 65, 68, 75
Stanton, Edwin, 62
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 42, 85
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 46, 51–52, 54
W
Wells, Ida B., 82–83
White, William A., 44–45
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