Frederick Douglass was born on a farm in Talbot County, Maryland in 1818.  His mother was a slave.  He lived with his grandmother until he was six years old.  He saw his mother only a few times.  Frederick’s mother died when he was seven years old.  When he was six, he was sent to live as a slave in Baltimore, Maryland.  He worked for different people.  He escaped to New York when he was 20 years old. 

     Frederick learned to read by asking poor white boys to teach him. It was against the law for slaves to learn to read.  They had to teach him in secret so the owners wouldn’t know about it.  Frederick taught other slaves to read on Sundays at his secret school.  

     In New York, Frederick worked for William Lloyd Garrison.  Mr. Garrison wrote an anti-slavery newspaper.  Frederick went to other cities to talk about slavery and get people to buy the newspaper.  The newspaper was called the Liberator.  Two years later Frederick started his anti-slavery newspaper called the North Star.

     In 1863, Frederick was asked to join the first black unit of the Union army.  His wife died in 1882.  He got married again in 1884.  Frederick died in Washington, D.C. in 1895.

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