What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in February 1818, Frederick Douglass worked tirelessly over the course of his life for social reform and abolition in the United States. By the end of his life on February 20th, 1895, Douglass would contribute to countless political movements, publish a number of powerful writings on abolition, and become the first African-American nominated for Vice President of the United States. His powerful legacy has earned him a permanent place in U.S. history and the national consciousness.

Douglass was born to an enslaved mother and was raised mostly by his maternal grandmother; in his adolescent years, he was sent to live with Hugh Auld, the brother of the man who enslaved Douglass’s family. At the Aulds’ house in Baltimore, Lucretia Auld taught the young Douglass how to read and write, treating him with dignity. Douglass harnessed his learning in secret, developing his skills through observation and by practicing with White children in the city. In his teenage years, Douglass was sent to work, still enslaved, for William Freeland; on Freeland’s plantation, Douglass taught other enslaved people how to read and write at a Sunday school. Other White slaveholders were incensed by this and retaliated with violence.

When Douglass was 16 years old, Thomas Auld, the original slaveholder who enslaved Douglass’s family, sent him to work for a man named Edward Covey as punishment.