Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was one of the most important black leaders of the Antislavery movement. He was born in 1817 in Talbot County, MD. He was the son of Harriet Bailey and an unknown white man. His mother was a slave so therefore he was born a slave. He lived with his grandparents until the age of eight, so he never knew his mother well. When he turned eight, he was sent to "Aunt Kathy," a woman …

…blacks should into the Union army. His own sons were of the first volunteers for the all black regiment formed in Massachusetts. In 1865 there were 300,000 blacks in the Union army. In 1865-1877, he campaigned for black vote and full civil rights for the freedmen. He was a leading Republican advocate, and held several federal posts. Douglass was minister to Haiti from 1889 to 1891. He died on February 29, 1895. He was honored as the nation's greatest black leader.