Frederick Douglass was a social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. His attributes to the Civil Rights struggle includes being the most important leader of the movement for African American Civil Rights in the 19th century. Douglass became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York; he wrote three autobiographies describing his life experiences, both as a slave and a freeman. Frederick Douglass became an active campaigner for the rights of freed slaves and became the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States. Frederick Douglass is noted for saying, “Knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom.” After Douglass returned from a trip to the United Kingdom, he founded the North Star, a weekly publication, which he produced in the basement of the Memorial AME Zion Church in Rochester, New York. Douglass joined the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, an independent black denomination first established in New York City, and later became a licensed preacher in 1839. In New Bedford, he joined several organizations and often attended abolitionist meetings. Minister Frederick Douglass engaged in a protest against segregated transportation and was later thrown off a train for refusing to sit in a segregated coach. Douglass traveled abroad a number of times and spent two years in Ireland and Great Britain lecturing in churches, broadening the minds on the issues of Civil Rights and anti-slavery. By use of the “North Star” (newspaper publication), Douglass also became a supporter for women’s rights, which he began after speaking at a women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls in upstate New York. His life’s work for Civil Rights was extensive and there is so much more to add.
More Info
Church Affiliation:African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
Role in the Movement:Frederick Douglass was a social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman.
Birth Place:Talbot Co., MD
Born Date:February 14, 1818
Deceased Date:February 20, 1895
Place Lived as Adult:Massachusetts; New York;
Church Location:New Bedford, MA