EOTO #2 Reaction: Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass is an icon of American history. This is mainly because he taught himself how to read and write. He also took his name from a famous poem he read. He was born in Talbot County, Maryland in February of 1818. Although he was born as a slave, Douglass managed to escape to full freedom in disguise in his early 20’s. Following his escape, he had his first ever own written book published in 1845, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. He worked with several abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison and Gerrit Smith.

One of the first ways Frederick Douglass worked hard for change was through his written newspapers. With this being said, in the earlier part of his journalism career, he worked for the newspaper, The Liberator. Then, in 1847, Douglass moved to New York to publish his own newspaper, The North Star. Shortly after this, in 1851, Frederick Douglass created his own new newspaper called The Frederick Douglass’ Paper.After a few years of becoming successful with this newspaper, in 1859, he started a monthly newspaper, The Douglass’s Monthly. Unfortunately, Douglass had to stop printing his newspapers in the early months of 1863 due to circumstances from the Civil War. His last written newspaper, The New National Era, was published from 1870 until 1874. 

Overall, ​​Douglass passed away in 1895 from a heart attack. He was 77 years old. His legacy lives on because he continued to advocate for women's rights and freedom for everyone. His most known accomplishment was that he wrote three published autobiographies, some are still being read today. He remains a journalistic legend to everyone to this day. 

Throughout the Civil War, Frederick Douglass supported African American soldiers in the Army, and would later become a recruiter for the U.S. Colored Troops. He used the Civil War as the fight to end slavery, but like several free African Americans, he convinced President Abraham Lincoln to emancipate the slaves making sure that slavery would never exist in the United States again. After the war, Douglass changed the stereotype of African Americans being held captive as slaves in the U.S. This revolutionary change he made gave African Americans citizenship and the right to vote and established those amendments in the constitution.