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If you fancy talking about individualities that have changed this world for the better, then may we stray far away from the hackneyed topics and talk about someone truly special? American abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery would have written many more research papers if he had more time for it. Still, he has lived a life worthy of thousands of essays that are nowadays written about him. Born in 1818 into slavery, he has managed to become one of the most prolific and influential intellectuals of his epoch, thus changing one’s perception of the African Americans once and forever.

He Preferred Knowledge to Food

If you search for free essay examples about Frederick Douglass you will definitely get to know that he was a renowned orator, public activist, abolitionist, etc. Nonetheless, it is not that easy to find something interesting about him. When he was a slave, he was not allowed to educate himself. Instead of coming back to the owner’s mansion by dinner he would stay in town and would fit in the reading lessons when he was running errands for his master.

He Taught Others to Read

That grain of altruism has always been present in Mr. Douglass because as soon as he taught himself to read, he embarked upon teaching the other slaves. Sometimes, he would teach up to forty people under the constant fear of being beaten up by local racial fanatics. There is much more information about Frederick Douglass’s educational activities on StudyDriver. Frederick Douglass essay examples can be found in abundance on this website. Probably, if he could write by that time, he would also distribute his essay examples among the crowds in order to teach them writing as well.

He Humiliated His Former Owner

In the year 1848, Douglass was already running a newspaper called The North Star. It was, namely, in that newspaper that he would write an explicit article about Thomas Auld, his former owner, making sure that that the latter would know that Douglass was his fellow American and not his slave.

His Name Was Taken from a Poem

We are talking about the names that he used when arriving in different cities for the sake of delivering lectures or educating people. He had to change his name in order not to be detected and thus apprehended. Being born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, he has finally chosen a constant pseudo for himself, using Douglass from The Lady of the Lake.

The Most Photographed American of the 19th Century

In accordance to some sources, there are more than 160 photo-portraits of Frederick Douglass. Even Abraham Lincoln did not enjoy such favoritism in the hands of the photographers. Douglass himself claimed that photography was the most democratic of arts because it could not be edited like a text.

He Did Not Celebrate the Independence Day

It was on the 5th of July, 1852 when he was invited to deliver a speech on the matter of American independence in New York. Douglass arrived but eventually mocked the public, stating that asking a slave to speak about independence was nothing else but sheer hypocrisy.

He Convinced Lincoln to Recruit the Blacks

The Civil War was not the easiest of times in the history of the United States. Knowing that President Lincoln would listen to him, he has been actively petitioning for allowing the blacks to be enlisted in the Union army. Eventually, Lincoln agreed, and it was one of the brightest pages in the book of the emancipation of slaves in America.

Six Presidents Listened to Him

Frederick Douglass stood out of the crowd with his intellectual abilities. Thus, there was no wonder in the fact that various presidents wanted to have him on their crew. Lincoln, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, and Harrison have all sought advice from him.

A Controversial Marriage

Two years after his first wife passed away because of stroke, Frederick Douglass married a lady named Helen Pitts. She was a much younger white feminist who also fought for equal rights for all people. Nonetheless, interracial marriage was still a huge taboo in the American society of that time.

Almost Vice President

In 1872, Frederick Douglass was nominated for the position of the Vice President of the United States of America along with Victoria Woodhull, who run for the president. It was in 1872 that a black man and a white woman have almost made it to the two most important offices of the state.

Concluding thoughts

This article presented you with ten the most incredible facts about Frederick Douglass, a former slave who went on to advise presidents and delivering lectures to thousands of people on such topics as slavery, women’s rights, and Irish home rule. Still, it is almost sure that history holds a lot of more interesting facts about this incredible man.