Frederick Douglass Escapes Slavery

People

Frederick Douglass (subject); Harriet Bailey (mother); Anna Murray Douglass (wife); Isaac Rolls (ally); David Ruggles (abolitionist); Nathan Johnson (ally); Aaron Anthony (enslaver); Thomas Auld (enslaver); Hugh Auld (enslaver); Sophia Auld (enslaver); Edward Covey (enslaver); William Lloyd Garrison (abolitionist); Reverend James W.C. Pennington (officiant)

Outcome

Douglass successfully escaped slavery and settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts; became one of the foremost abolitionist orators and writers in American history; published his autobiography in 1845; founded The North Star newspaper in 1847; advised President Lincoln during the Civil War; and served in multiple government positions before his death on February 20, 1895

On September 3, 1838, Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland, by disguising himself as a free Black sailor and boarding a northbound train. Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey around February 1818 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Douglass had been enslaved from birth. His mother, Harriet Bailey, was an enslaved woman; his father was likely his enslaver, Aaron Anthony or Thomas Auld. At age eight, Douglass was sent to Baltimore to serve Hugh and Sophia Auld, where Sophia began teaching him to read until Hugh forbade it. Douglass continued learning in secret, trading bread to white boys in exchange for reading lessons. In 1834, he was sent to Edward Covey, a farmer known as a "slave-breaker," who subjected him to months of brutal beatings. Douglass eventually fought back physically against Covey, a confrontation he later described as a turning point that restored his sense of dignity and resolve. Douglass's escape plan relied on borrowed identity documents: a Seaman's Protection Certificate provided by a free Black sailor named Isaac Rolls. Dressed in a red shirt and sailor's hat and carrying a small bag, Douglass boarded a train from Baltimore to Wilmington, Delaware, then traveled by steamboat to Philadelphia, and finally by train to New York City. The entire journey took approximately 24 hours. Along the way, Douglass faced several moments of danger, including encounters with people who knew him, but he was never detained. Anna Murray, a free Black woman from Baltimore whom Douglass loved, had helped fund his escape by selling one of her feather beds and sending him money. Upon arriving in New York, Douglass was sheltered by David Ruggles, secretary of the New York Committee of Vigilance, who provided him safe housing and helped arrange his next steps. On September 15, 1838, Douglass married Anna Murray in New York, with Ruggles facilitating the ceremony. The couple then moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Douglass found work as a laborer on the docks and in various trades. It was in New Bedford that he adopted the surname Douglass, inspired by a character in Sir Walter Scott's poem "The Lady of the Lake," at the suggestion of his host, Nathan Johnson. In 1841, at an antislavery convention in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Douglass delivered an impromptu speech about his experiences in slavery that so moved the audience that William Lloyd Garrison and the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society recruited him as a full-time lecturer. In 1845, Douglass published "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave," which became a bestseller and one of the most influential abolitionist texts in American history. He later founded The North Star newspaper in Rochester, New York, in 1847, met with President Abraham Lincoln multiple times during the Civil War, and served in several government positions, including U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia, and Minister to Haiti. Douglass died on February 20, 1895, in Washington, D.C., having become one of the most consequential Americans of the nineteenth century.