Frederick Douglass Accomplishments |

Frederick Douglass was the son of a black slave woman and a white man. As a child Douglass witnessed the brutality of slavery first hand. After his mother died he lived with his grandparents but was sent to Baltimore to live with Hugh Auld, who was in the shipping business. Douglass learned how to read while in Baltimore, he also learned that words held potential power especially when they tapped into the emotions of those who were listening. Douglass became a skilled orator in the U.S. and in England. His supporters in England led by Ellen Richardson bought his freedom in 1846. Upon returning to the U.S. Douglass' speeches were all the more in demand. His natural ability to tell 'his' story truthfully and with complete humility translated into the most powerful sense of political persuasion of the time. Douglass understood that his experiences had the capacity to force the nation to really reflect upon those three words...We The People... that ability was both his talent as well as his best accomplishment.