Frederick Douglass

(noun)

An American social reformer, orator, writer, and statesman who, after escaping from slavery, became a leader of the abolitionist movement and gained notoriety for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing.

Related Terms

Examples of Frederick Douglass in the following topics:

  • Black and White Abolitionism

    • Garrison's efforts to recruit eloquent spokesmen led to the discovery of ex-slave Frederick Douglass [], who eventually became a prominent activist in his own right.
    • Eventually, Douglass would publish his own, widely distributed abolitionist newspaper, the North Star.
    • Another camp, led by Lysander Spooner, Gerrit Smith, and eventually Douglass, considered the Constitution to be an antislavery document.
    • Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), a former slave whose memoirs, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) and My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), became bestsellers which aided the cause of abolition.

  • Slavery and the Abolitionist Movement

    • Abolitionists came from various communities including religious groups such as the Quakers, white anti-slavery activists such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, and former slaves and free people of color such as Frederick Douglass, Robert Purvis and James Forten.
    • Frederick Douglass was a freed slave prominent abolitionist and rights advocate.

  • African American Migration

    • Indeed, Frederick Douglass was a critic of the movement.
    • Douglass did not disagree with the Exodusters in principle, but he felt that the movement was ill-timed and poorly organized.

  • From Gradualism to Abolition

    • Another camp, led by Lysander Spooner, Gerrit Smith, and eventually Frederick Douglass, considered the Constitution to be an antislavery document.
    • Garrison's efforts to recruit eloquent spokesmen from within the African-American community led him to Frederick Douglass, who was a prominent activist in his own right.
    • Eventually, Douglass would publish his own widely distributed abolitionist newspaper, The North Star.

  • Reform and the Election of 1872

    • Frederick Douglass supported Grant and reminded black voters that Grant had destroyed the violent Ku Klux Klan.

  • The Rights of the Accused

    • The mural on the 'International Wall' depicts Frederick Douglass (1815-1895), a former slave who became one of the foremost leaders of the abolitionist movement which fought to end slavery within the United States in the decades prior to the Civil War.
    • Douglass later served as an adviser to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and fought for the adoption of constitutional amendments that guaranteed voting rights and other civil liberties for blacks.

  • Forms of Resistance

    • Brown had asked for both Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass’s support, but was denied.
    • Tubman had recently fallen ill, and Douglass was convinced the raid would not succeed.

  • The Raid on Harper's Ferry

    • Because of Brown's willingness to shed blood (including his own) for the cause, Frederick Douglass was later to comment that Brown's devotion to ending slavery was like a "burning sun" compared to his own candlelight.
    • Douglass had prudently turned down Brown's invitation to take part in the raid.

  • The Diversity of the West

    • Indeed, Frederick Douglass was a critic of the movement.
    • Douglass did not disagree with the Exodusters in principle, but he felt that the movement was ill-timed and poorly organized.

  • Frederick the Great

    • Frederick, the son of Frederick William I and his wife, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, was born in Berlin in 1712.
    • With the death of Frederick I in 1713, Frederick William became King of Prussia, thus making young Frederick the crown prince.
    • Tensions eased slightly when Frederick William visited Küstrin a year later and Frederick was allowed to visit Berlin on the occasion of his sister Wilhelmine's marriage to Margrave Frederick of Bayreuth in 1731.
    • Frederick was restored to the Prussian Army as colonel.
    • Frederick's years dedicated to the arts instead of politics ended upon the 1740 death of Frederick William and his inheritance of the Kingdom of Prussia.