Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass
	;
Real Name	Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey
Born	February 14, 1818
Died	February 20, 1895

Origin[]

Frederick Douglass, born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, was an American abolitionist, writer, orator, and statesman who became the leading advocate for African American civil rights in the 19th century.

After escaping slavery in Maryland in 1838, he emerged as a powerful voice in the abolitionist movement through his speeches and writings. His first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), countered pro-slavery claims and became a bestseller. He later published My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881, revised 1892).

Following the Civil War, Douglass continued to champion the rights of freed people and supported women’s suffrage. He held various public offices and, without his consent, became the first African American nominated for U.S. vice president in 1872. Known for his belief in dialogue and cooperation, Douglass famously said, “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”

Public Domain Appearances[]

All published appearances of Frederick Douglass from before January 1, 1931 are public domain in the US.

Some notable appearances are listed below:

Public Domain Works[]

Autobiographies[]

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845)
My Bondage and My Freedom (1855)
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881, revised 1892)

Essays & Orations[]

"What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" (July 5, 1852)
"The Heroic Slave", pp. 174–239 in Autographs for Freedom, edited by Julia Griffiths (1853) (external scan)
"The Nature, Character, and History of the Anti-slavery Movement", (1855)
"West India Emancipation" (1857)
The American Constitution and the Slave (March 26, 1860)
"Reconstruction" in The Atlantic Monthly, 18 (110) (December, 1866).
"An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" in The Atlantic Monthly, 19 (111) (January, 1867)
Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln (1876)
My Escape from Slavery (1881)
The Color Line (1881)
Address on the Twenty-First Anniversary of Emancipation in the District of Columbia (1883)
The Soul of the Nation (1885)
The Future of the Colored Race (1886)
Lessons of the Hour (1894)
Also published as "Why is the Negro Lynched?" (1894) (transcription project)
Letters
Letter to Thomas Auld (Sep 8, 1848)

Letters[]

Letter to Thomas Auld (Sep 8, 1848)

Public Domain Literary Appearances[]

Frederick Douglass, The Colored Orator by Frederic May Holland (1891)
Frederick Douglass by Charles W. Chesnutt (1899)
Frederick Douglass by Booker T. Washington (1907)
"Douglass, Frederick," in The American Cyclopædia (1879)
"Douglass, Frederick," in Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, New York: D. Appleton and Co. (1892)
"Douglass, Frederick," in The Nuttall Encyclopædia, (ed.) by James Wood, London: Frederick Warne and Co., Ltd. (1907)
"Douglass, Frederick," in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911)
"Frederick Douglass" by Paul Laurence Dunbar (poem)

Public Domain Comic Appearances[]

Real Life Comics #33