February 18^th is the birthday of Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), social reformer, articulate writer and statesman, and the greatest orator for the nation-wide abolitionist movement.

Born a slave in Tuckahoe. MD, for 8 years he was a houseboy for the Auld family. There he learned just enough reading and writing to complete his formidable education on his own. Sent to a rural plantation, he was beaten repeatedly to break his spirit, but kept his spirit alive with dreams of being a free man. In 1837 he escaped to Baltimore and then to New York, where he married a free Black woman.

Douglass edited a newspaper, “The North Star,” and published editorials in various journals. His first autobiography (in 1845) made him a fugitive again, so he lived in England for several years. His friends there bought his freedom, so he could return to America and continue fighting slavery. He helped recruit Black soldiers to serve in the Union Army.

After the war, Douglass lived in the District of Columbia, where he served in different positions under three Presidents from Harrison to Hayes. He actively supported women’s suffrage, and without his knowledge became the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States.