Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland sometime around 1818. It was common for slaves not to know the exact year and day of their birth, but later in life he chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14. At a young age, Douglass was moved into the plantation owners’ home. It’s possible one of the plantation owners was actually his father.

Living with the owners, Frederick Douglass had certain privileges other slaves were not afforded. He was taught the alphabet around age 12, and when his instructor was forbidden to teach him further, he continued to learn through the white children and others in his neighborhood.

Reading opened up a whole new world to Douglass, who sought out political literature as often as he could, reading newspapers and forming an ideological opposition to slavery and defined views on human rights. He then shared his knowledge with other enslaved people and taught other slaves on the plantation to read the New Testament.

After two failed attempts, Douglass finally escaped slavery on September 3, 1838, boarding a train and meeting Anna Murray, a free Black woman. She provided him with money and a sailor’s uniform. He made his way to a safe house in New York in less than 24 hours. Murray joined him, and they married on September 15, 1838. The two settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, among a thriving Black community.

Douglass was asked to tell his story at abolitionist meetings, and he became a regular anti-slavery speaker. He published an autobiography in 1845, then traveled overseas to avoid being recaptured. He lived in Ireland and Britain for two years, spreading his anti-slavery message there as well. His British supporters gathered funds to purchase his legal freedom. In 1847, Douglass returned to the United States a legally free man.

Douglass published many abolitionist newspapers, as well as a few books. His first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, was a bestseller in the United States and was translated into several European languages as well.

Douglass died in 1895.