Black History Day 14: Frederick Douglass

We’ve made it halfway through the month and with Day 14 of February I present to you, Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in February of 1818. As a young child he was taught to read by his masters and other white children in the neighborhood. Because of his gift for reading he was chosen to read the Bible to slaves during church services though it was later disbanded.

In 1838 he and a woman named Ann Murray escaped slavery and later married each other later on in the year. After his escape he regularly attended abolitionist meetings and years later in 1845 wrote his first autobiography.

Douglass was also present when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863 and served in several political areas, mainly for black suffrage and women’s rights. He would also revise and add on to his biography as the years went along. Doigohas gone down as one of the most influential African Americans of all time and his examples are still being referenced in today’s society.