Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was born on a plantation.

He explained in his published Narratives that rarely did an enslaved person know their birthdate. Although Douglass never knew his birthdate, he chose to celebrate his birthday every year on February 14th. February became Black History Month in the United States because of this celebration.  

After his birth, Harriet Bailey, his mother, was hired out to a plantation 12 miles away and Frederick was put in the care of his grandmother, Betsey Bailey. His mother would sometimes walk through the night to be with him and then to go back to her plantation. She died when Frederick was very young and he had little memory of her. Frederick’s father was a white man. It was rumoured that he was a plantation owner.

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In his autobiography, Frederick described the conditions of the enslaved: a monthly allowance of pork or fish of eight pounds (3.5kg) and one bushel (23kg) of corn meal. A year’s clothing was two coarse linen shirts, a pair of linen trousers, a pair of rough wool/linen trousers, a pair of stockings and a pair of shoes. Children got only two rough linen shirts and nothing else. There were no beds in the cabins, only a coarse blanket and then only for the adults. Frederick was fed corn meal in a trough along with other children, like pigs.

Around the age of eight, Frederick was sent to Baltimore. He lived with a family and was to take care of their little son. The mother knew little about slavery. Initially, she helped Frederick learn the alphabet. When her husband found out and reprimanded her, she turned into a harsh mistress. However, Frederick did have access to some books and newspapers while she was not looking. On the street, Frederick was able to find white children who helped him improve his reading and writing.

Frederick educated himself and was able to read anti-slavery articles. In his early teens he started to think about seeking freedom from slavery. 

Around this time his enslaver died and Frederick, being his property, was called back to the plantation for valuation. He was allotted to the daughter of the family. Eventually Frederick ended up back on a planation close to where he was born. The enslaved were better treated in towns like Baltimore than on plantations, and Frederick found himself roughly treated. His new enslaver found Frederick hard to handle and sent him to a “slave breaker”. Frederick remained unbroken. 

Frederick hatched a plot to escape his enslavement with two other enslaved men, Henry Harris and John Harris. The plot was discovered and he was sent back to his original enslaver who intended to sell him into the Deep South, where conditions were even worse for the enslaved. However, Frederick ended up back in Baltimore with the same white family and learned the shipbuilding trade. Becoming skilled at this trade he was hired out and paid directly, but had to pay his earnings back to the white family.

It was at this time that he made his successful bid for freedom. He ended up in New York in 1838. 

Frederick published his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, in 1845. This sold very well and raised his profile as an abolitionist. However, it meant that it was not safe for him to stay in the USA, as Frederick was still regarded as the property of his enslavers even in a northern state where slavery was abolished. He left for Britain that year. 

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Frederick travelled on from Britain almost immediately to Dublin as his autobiography was being published by an Irish printer. It was through the sale of his book that Frederick hoped to fund his lecturing tour of Britain. He was helped by the Quaker network in Ireland to set up a few lectures on abolition. He met Daniel O’Connell, a staunch supporter of abolition. Frederick learnt from O’Connell’s style.

 Frederick said in Ireland, 

I find myself not treated as a color but as a man.

He remained in Ireland much longer than he planned. He talked at many venues to mixed audiences in the South and to Protestant audiences around Belfast. While in Belfast, he met Mary Ann McCracken, a lifelong abolitionist. Shortly after meeting Frederick, she helped form the Belfast Ladies Anti-Slavery Association. 

Supporters in England raised money to purchase his freedom from his former enslaver. This allowed him to go back to the United States in 1847 where he continued the fight for abolition. 

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Slavery was abolished in 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Until 1865, Irish emigrants to the United States would have had differing attitudes towards slavery. This was typified by the attitude of Archbishop of New York, John Hughes. He often berated O’Connell for interfering in the internal affairs of the USA with his abolitionist talk. 

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The experience of Irish emigrants with the institution of slavery is reflected throughout the Ulster American Folk Park. For example, the Rogan Tennessee Plantation House is typical of the plantation that Frederick Douglass grew up in. The American Street is a recreation of the historic Fells Point area of Baltimore. The freedom-seeking Frederick Douglass was forced to work on streets like this. The dockside has a building from Belfast that Frederick may have walked by during his two stays there. It was at the docks that Mary Ann McCracken could be found handing out abolitionist leaflets to Irish migrants, warning them of the evils of slavery. In the Ulster section of the museum, you can find the childhood home of John Hughes.