The Life Of An Abolitionist
William Lloyd Garrison
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Soon after Douglass married Anna, he joined a black church and participated in abolitionist meetings. He also subscribed to William Lloyd Garrison's weekly journal The Liberator. William, after seeing Frederick at one of the meetings, was impressed with Frederick and wrote about him in that journal. Afterword he accepted Frederick as a Colleague.
It was William who convinced Frederick Douglass to write his first autobiography the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, in 1845. This became a best selling book in America during its time. After writing the Autobiography and going on a lecture campaign his reputation as an escaped slave came with the risk of recapture so he escaped to Liverpool in 1845. He stayed in Liverpool for 2 years until his freedom was bought by British supporters. He returned in 1847 as a free man. |
After coming back to America he supported his wife by joining her and becoming an out spoken women's rights supporter. "He published his own newspaper, The North Star, participated in the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, in 1848, and wrote three autobiographies. He was internationally recognized as an uncompromising abolitionist, indefatigable worker for justice and equal opportunity, and an unyielding defender of women's rights."
He also became an adviser for President Abraham Lincoln on the treatment of black solders and with President Andrew Johnson on black voting rights. He held many political positions after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation as being the ambassador to the Republic of Haiti, president of the Freedman's Savings Bank, and as chargé d'affaires for the Dominican Republic. He was also the first African American to be nominated for Vice President (interestingly without his consent) in 1872 under Victoria Woodhull.
He would continue his work on women's rights until his death on February 20, 1895 right after coming home from the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C.
He would continue his work on women's rights until his death on February 20, 1895 right after coming home from the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C.