Frederick Douglass (1818-1895),US abolitionist. Douglass,born a slave in Maryland,rose to become one of the most prominent figures in 19th-century African-American history. He escaped slavery in 1838,and travelled to New York. In 1841 he gave his first anti-slavery speech,recounting his life as a slave. As well as his abolitionist work,he was also an author and editor,publishing several newspapers and,in 1945,his autobiography titled Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,an American Slave. The book became a bestseller. He also campaigned on women's rights and the rights of Catholics in Ireland. His later life,after the US Civil War,was spent in Washington DC. This photograph dates from between 1865 and 1880 |