Frederick Douglass: The Most Successful Runaway Slave

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Frederick Douglass, the most successful runaway slave that ever was. Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born directly into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland to his mother, Harriet Bailey and his father, who is said to be Anthony Aaron . His birth year is thought to be around 1818 however the exact date is unknown. He later chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14th. He began his early stages of life living with his maternal grandmother, Betty Bailey, but a relatively young age, he was forced to live on a plantation with plantation owners, one of which was thought to be his father. Even though there was an very strict ban on the teaching of slaves to read and write , Fredericks slave owner’s wife Sophia, taught him the entire…show more content…
He discovered this word and its meaning by reading the Baltimore American Paper. Still being a slave at the age of 17 he made his first attempt at running away from his owner’s plantation. His attempt was unsuccessful and he was caught and sent to jail. Three years later at the age of 20 his escape was successful. This time around, he escaped by borrowing a sailors papers. After his escape he became an avid abolitionist leader with his goals being to end slavery and all of its relations. During this time he also wrote “ The North Star” this name came from when escaping slaves followed the north star to freedom. Frederick Douglass had two wives that we know of. His first wife was a black woman that was free,her name was Anna Douglass. Frederick and Anna had five total children . Three of which were boys there names were Lewis Henry , Frederick ,and Charles Remond, and two were girls whose names were Rosetta and Annie. Unfortunately Annie died at the age of ten. His second wife was white and her name was Helen Pitts. Douglass was 20 years older than she was and her family was not very supportive of their interracial relationship. He later went on to give his most famous speech “ Self made man”. He later met William Coffin and William Garrison, who were also strong abolitionists in New England. The both of them offered him a job, which was to be an agent for the

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