Frederick Douglass was an African American abolitionist, social reformer, and statesman.
Born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, Douglass escaped to freedom in 1838. He became a leading voice of the abolitionist movement in the United States and his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, was published in 1845.
Douglass attended the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights convention, and he became a champion of women’s suffrage. He also worked for the abolition of child labor and for the rights of African Americans to vote, hold office and receive education.
He was appointed as U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877 but resigned after only two weeks on April 14th because Hayes refused to protect black voters from violence at polling stations and instead ordered troops to escort ex-Confederate soldiers who were trying to intimidate black voters away from polling stations so they could vote Republican (the party which had supported slavery).
