Frederick Douglass s1

Abolitionists Frederick Douglass - 1818 (Maryland) too 1895 - An escaped slave, a famous orator, journalist and antislavery leader, who was self- educated. - His mother was Harriet Bailey and his father was an unknown white man - At 17, a slave breaker named Covey had beaten him on a daily basis. After 6 months, Frederick resisted Covey. After that Covey never attempted to beat him again. Before this event, Frederick believed that he was nothing and after it, he wrote that he was a man now. He described this as the turning point of his life as a slave. - He was sent to Baltimore to work as an apprentice in a ship yard. In 1838, he obtained papers from a free black seaman and, dressed as a sailor, took a train to New York. - He married Anna Murray and had 5 children - He changed his surname, Johnson to Douglass, the name of a character in the poem “The Lady of the Lake” - His autobiographies were: 1. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) 2. My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) 3. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881/1882) - His newspapers were: 1. The North Star (1847-1863) 2. Frederick Douglass’ Weekly 3. Douglass’ Monthly - His house in Rochester was a station on the UGR - He was a friend of John Brown, but refused to join the rebellion - 1884, he married his white secretary, Helen Pitts, which outraged many blacks and whites. For him, the marriage symbolized one more victory in his lifelong crusade against racial discrimination. - Douglass also encouraged Lincoln to have an all black regiment in the American Civil War, which was the 54th Massachusetts Regiment

Thomas Clarkson - 1760-1846 - Leading figure in the Abolition Society of Britain in 1787. - Spoke out against the slave trade and persuaded people not to buy slave-grown sugar.

William Lloyd Garrison - 1805-1879 - From Massachusetts - He used his newspaper, The Liberator, to fight slavery - Helped organize the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, of which he was president. - Later he campaigned on behalf on the Native Americans and also for votes for women.

Elijah Lovejoy - 1802-1837 - Born in Maine; Died in Alton, Illinois - A white abolitionist journalist and Presbyterian minister - He published a religious newspaper, The St. Louis Observer, and began to advocate the abolition of slavery. - After seeing a slave burned at the stake, his editorials became so strident against slavery that he became an object of hatred by both Southerners and slave-holders. His printing presses were frequently destroyed. - On Nov. 7th, 1837, Lovejoy and 20 supporters gathered at Godfrey & Gilman warehouse to guard a new press. - They were confronted by an angry mob and while trying to stop a fire, Lovejoy was shot. - The mob action at Godfrey & Gilman warehouse was the first, but unrecorded battle of the American Civil War. Sojourner Truth - Born about 1797 in New York and died in 1883. - She transformed herself from a domestic servant named Isabella Van Wagenen into a runaway slave, who became a favourite speaker at abolitionist rallies - In 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth - She was a deeply religious woman who spent more than 40 years preaching and arguing against slavery. - She gave her famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech at the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.

Harriet Beecher Stowe - 1811 (Connecticut) – 1896 - a white, American writer - She is most famous as the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel that made Northerners angry over slavery. - Published in 1852 - It condemned slavery and was an important factor precipitating the American Civil War

Charles Sumner - 1811-1874 - From Massachusetts - A white US senator, who became the Senate’s leading opponent of slavery. - After one speech Sumner made against pro-slavery groups in Kansas in 1856, he was beaten unconscious by Preston Brooks, a congressman from South Carolina.

Harriet Tubman (Araminta Ross) - She was born in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her birth was not recorded, but it was app. 1820 - Both of her parents were from Africa and were taken into slavery - At age 12 she would not help her master tie up a fellow slave, who was being punished. Her master struck her in the head with a weight/rock, which caused her to have blackouts throughout her life. - At the 25 she married John Tubman, who was a free black - She escaped slavery by using the Underground Railroad (UGR) - Stationmaster William Still, from Philadelphia taught everything she knew about the UGR - She became the most famous conductor of the UGR. - She rescued app. 300 slaves and did not lose anyone. She threatened death to anyone who tried to go back, as she carried 2 pistols - There was a $40,000 reward for her capture - Her nickname was Moses, as she led her people to freedom - She was friends with Frederick Douglass & John Brown - During the American Civil War, she served as a nurse and spy for the Union. - After the American Civil War, she went to Auburn, New York, where she died in 1913