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Fredrick Douglass
This was the day Fredrick Douglass was born on. He was born into slavery and would later in his life help put an end to slavery. -
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Fredrick Douglass moves to plantation on Wye river
Fredrick Douglass moves to the plantation on the wye river at around 1824. He was only about six years old and his grandmother would walk him to the childhood cabin where he would begin his life as a slave. -
Fredrick Douglass is sent to live with Hugh Auld. Mrs. Auld teaches him how to read
When Fredrick Douglass is sent to the Auld's, Mrs. Auld taught young Fredrick how to read. -
Fredrick Douglass is hired to work as a shipyard general assistant
He was hired because he knew how to read. Also while he was imprisoned, he was inspected by slave traders, and he fully expected that he would be sold to "a life of living death" in the Deep South. To his surprise, Thomas Auld came and released him. Then Frederick's master sent him back to Hugh Auld in Baltimore imprisoned for a week while the other privileged men were working. -
Douglass learns of an abolitionist movement
Frederick Douglass had first encountered The Columbian Orator around the age of twelve, just after he learned to read. Young Frederick was greatly affected by the horrors of slavery and once he heard of the abolitionist movement, he quickly joined. -
Frederick Douglass attempts to escape slavery.
Frederick began an illegal school for blacks. At the school, he and his students would plan a way to begin an escape to the North. After a year, it was completed. However the mission failed because one of the students exposed the plan to one of his colleagues and the white slaveholders overheard about it, and they were all sent to jail. -
Frederick Douglass escapes slavery.
Frederick Douglass made his dramatic escape from slavery traveling north by train and boat from Baltimore, through Delaware, to Philadelphia. -
Douglass is Beaten by a mob
Douglass was often roughly handled when he refused to sit in the "Negro" sections of trains and steamships, and worst of all some of the meetings that were held in western states were sometimes disrupted by proslavery mobs. In Pendleton, Indiana, Douglass's hand was broken when he and an associate were beaten up by a gang of thugs. six-month tour of meeting halls throughout the west. -
Fredrick Douglass begins sheltering slaves
As a major Stationmaster on the Underground Railroad, he helped hundreds of slaves on their way to freedom through his home city of Rochester, NY. -
Douglass Publishes Second Book, My Bondage and my freedom
As fugitive held in exile, Frederick undoubtedly attacked slavery. The book, "My Bondage And My Freedom" mainly talks about his life in greater detail. Also, the book describes the transition from bondage to liberty. -
Douglass Flees to Canada After Harper's Ferry Raid
He plans to start a slave insurrection and provide refuge for fleeing slaves. Federal troops capture him, and he is eventually tried and hanged. Authorities find a letter from Douglass to Brown. Douglass flees to Canada and then to a planned lecture tour of England to escape arrest on charges of being an accomplice in Brown's raid. -
Douglass Becomes Recruiter for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry
Douglass becomes a recruiter for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first regiment of African-American soldiers; his sons Lewis and Charles join the regiment. -
Frederick Douglass Marries Helen Pitts
Douglass marries Helen Pitts, a white woman who had been his secretary when he was recorder of deeds. The interracial marriage causes controversy among the Douglasses' friends, family, and the public. -
Frederick Douglass Dies
Speaks at a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C. Dies suddenly that evening of heart failure while describing the meeting to his wife.