Frederick Baily was born in February, 1818, near
Easton, Maryland. He was born into slavery. His masters in 1824-1835 were Aaron
Anthony, Hugh Auld, Thomas Auld, Edward Covey, and William Freeland.
When he was 18, in January, 1836, he made his first attempt to escape. He failed
and was imprisoned. In January,1837, he escaped for a second time. Looking for
somewhere to sleep, he went to an inn. There he met Anna Murray, (who was a
black slave as well.) On September 15, 1838, Anna Murray and Frederick Baily
were married.
After escaping, Frederick changed his name to Frederick Douglass so that it
would be harder for slave catchers to trace him. He changed his name to Douglass
because Nathan Johnson, a friend of Frederick’s, was reading a book called
“Lady of the Lake” and Nathan suggested that Frederick Baily should
change his name to a character in the book, Frederick Douglass.
In August, 1882, Anna Murray Douglass died, and in January, 1884, Frederick
married Helen Pitts, of Rochester. On February 20, 1895, Frederick Douglass
died.
The following is a list of Frederick Douglass’ accomplishments:
- In December, 1847, he started printing “The North Star” newspaper
- In December, 1848, he helped and supported woman’s rights
- In December, 1850, he became involved in the Underground Railroad
- In May, 1874, he became the president of the Freedman’s Savings and
Trust
- In May, 1877, he became a U.S. Marshal
For more information visit the following sites:
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/activists/douglass
http://www.nps.gov/frdo/freddoug.html
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/fdoug.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/3337/fdoug1.html
