Frederick Douglass was born to Harriet Bailey in February of 1818 as Frederick Bailey, on Holmes Hill Farm. Later in life, he took the 14th of February as his birthday. When Frederick was a baby, he was sent to live in a small cabin on the edge of a woods, with his grandmother Betsey Bailey. When he was 6, frederick was sent to work on the Lloyd plantation. There he met his brother Perry, and his sisters Sara and Eliza. Frederick hardly saw his mother growing up, due to the fact that Holmes Hill was a great distance from the Lloyd Plantation. In in 1826, Frederick was snt to work for Hugh Auld in Naltimore Maryland. There, Frederick was responsible for taking care of the infant son, Tommy. Sophia Auld began teaching Frederick the alphabet, and by the time her husband ordered her to stop, it was too late. Frederick had learned anough to begin teaching himself how to read, and the more he read, the more he began to detest slavery. His first formal piece of literature was a copy of "The Columbian Orator". By the time frederick was 13, he was sent back to the Lloyd Plantation. In March of 1833, when Frederick was 15, he was sent to work on a new farm, owened by Thomas Auld.In January 1834 Thomas Auld sent Frederick to work for Edward Covey, a man who was by reputation, an excellent slave-breaker. On the Covey farm, Frederick resisted one of his masters for the first time, and learned "Men are whipped oftenist who are whipped easiest". After 1 year, Frederick was sent to work for a man named William Freeland. There he began a school that met every Sunday night, to illegally teach black to read and write. A group of slaves he had become friends with and he planned to escape to the north in 1836, but their plan was revealed, and they were sent to jail. After jail, Frederick was sent back to Baltimore to live. Hugh Auld let Frederick work outside the farm as a professional caulker. Soon Frederick learned all the necessary skills, and was paid the highest wages for a man of his status. His only responsibilities were to give a portion of his earnings to Hugh Auld every week. By 1838, Frederick had begun attending meetings with educated free blacks, and had met a woman named Anna Murray, to whom he became engaged. In 1838, Frederick borrowed a freed black's papers, wore a disguise, and headed on a train to the North. Finally, on September 4, 1838, Frderick had made it to New York City. In New York, Frederick found a man he could trust, and rented out a room., He sent for Anna, and the two were married on September 15, 1838, and moved to New Bedford to live. In New Bedford, Frederick suscribed to "The Liberator", and read many anti-slavery pieces written by William Lloyd Garrison. By March 1839 some of Douglass' own pieces were published in "The Liberator". In August 1841 Douglass saw his role-model, William Lloyd Garrison for the first time. After hearing Douglass speak, Garrison hired him as an agent. In 1842, Douglass traveled through New York and Massachusets with speaking with Garrison and many others. In 1843, Douglass took part in the Hundred Conventions project. Finally, from 1844-1845, Douglass began to write down a history of what had happened to him. He titled it Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, and in May of 1845, 5,000 copies were piblished. In the summer of 1845, Douglass set off for England, to escape his captors, and speak freely of emancipation. In August of 1845, Douglass had 4 children (a girl and 3 boys). While in England, Douglass' friends saved $710.96 to buy his freedom, and on December 5, 1846 Hugh Auld signed the papers that recognized Douglass as a freed slave. In 1847 Douglass sailed home to America. In the late summer of 1847, Douglas and Garrison toured the North, and when Garrison fell ill, Douglass traveled on without him. After his tour Douglass began brainstorming drafts for an abolitionist newspaper, and due to his plans, moved westward to Rochester. On December 3, 1847, Douglass published the first issue of his paper "The North Star". Although the paper gained much praise, Douglass had been funding it out of his own pocket, and in 1848, he had to mortgauge his home. Julia Griffiths, a friend from England, visited Douglass and gave him the necessary funds to keep up with his paper. In 1851 the papers name was changed to "Frederick Douglass' Paper", and circulated untill 1860. After meeting Dan Brown in 1847, Douglass began believing that peaceful protest would no longer lead to emancipation, and him and Brown kept in contact untill 1859. In 1859, when Douglass refused to join Brown in the attack on Harpers Ferry, his name was found in letters planning the attack, and he had to flee to Canada. He traveled to England after that, to continue lectoring. However, tradgey struck in 1860, when Douglass' youngest child, Annie, Died. He was devistated, and returned home immediatly. In the years following the civil war, Douglass became increasing concerned as to what would be the fate of black Americans when the war ended. He even met with Lincoln a few times to discuss it. In 1865 he traveled again to speak on black suffrage, and in 1866, he even spoke in front of Andrew Johnson. Douglass was eventually put in carge of the Freedman's Bureau. Between 1870 and 1872, Douglass began editing for a paper in Washington, a fire overtook his Rochester home, and he moved down to DC. In 1882, Douglass' first wife, Annie, died and two years later, Douglass took Helen Pitts as his wife. Douglass served America in many ways, and when he died at the age of 77 from a massive heart attack on February 20, 1895, America and the world felt his loss.
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