Frederick Douglas

Frederick Douglas was an abolitionist born into slavery in 1818. He was consider a very important intellectual of his time based off of his teachings of many causes to thousands. He joined a church in New Bedford, Massachusetts where he attended the abolitionist meetings. A women named Sophia Auld defied the ban on teaching slaves and started teaching Frederick. When her husband would not allow it anymore, Frederick continued learning from the white kids in his neighborhood. He continued teaching himself by reading newspapers and literature. He began giving lessons to the other enslaved people on reading the new testament. When he moved slave owners to a man named Edward Covey who was know for breaking slaves. At the time, Frederick was just sixteen. He was almost broken psychologically due to the abuse, but he then began to fight back. After Frederick fought back, Edward never beat him again. Frederick eventually escaped slavery, but continued fighting against it. He wrote autobiographies about the real life of a slave and everything they had to go through. Finally, the books showed people just how brutal slavery really was. Up until his death, he gave speeches on human rights. He was known as the man who “gave a voice to the voiceless, and gave hope to the hopeless”.