Frederick_Douglass

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass was the leading spokesman of African Americans in the 1800?s. Never knowing his mother or even the identity of his father, he was born a slave and escaped to the north when he was twenty years old. He learned how to read and write in secret, and it became his passion. The abolition of slavery and the fight for equal rights was the subject of all of his speeches, debates and interviews. He founded an antislavery newspaper, wrote several autobiographical books, and helped recruit African Americans for the Union army during the Civil War. His final home was a station along the underground railroad system. Frederick Douglass is one of the most important people in American History. The exact birth-date of Frederick Douglass is unknown, even to him. ?Slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell his birthday? (Douglass 13). Keeping knowledge from their slaves was the masters? key to dominance. Evidence of a restless spirit within a slave was deemed improper and impertinent, and treated with a trip to the whipping-post. Never the less, Douglass? careful ear heard his master say, sometime during 1835, that he was about seventeen years old. Sometime during 1818, Harriet Bailey gave birth to Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in Tuckahoe, Maryland, near Easton. She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsy Bailey, both colored, and quite dark. Frederick?s father, however, was white. Color was the only fact he knew about his father. Whispered opinions claimed that his master was his father, but the truth (or lack thereof) of these rumors was never known. ??true or false, it is of but little consequence to my purpose whilst the fact remains, in all its glaring odiousness, that slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable; for by this cunning arrangement, the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father. I know of such cases? The master is frequently compelled to sell this class of his slaves, out of deference to the feelings of his white wife? (Douglass 14). Another custom in slavery, probably also out of deference to the feelings of the white wife, is to part children from their mothers at a very early age. Frederick was separated from his mother when he was an infant --- before he even knew her as his mother. Harriet Bailey was moved about twelve miles away. After the performance of her days work, she would sneak out and travel the whole distance on foot just to see her little baby son, hoping he would sense his mother?s love. She would lie down with him, get him to sleep, and long before he would wake she was gone (Filler 50). She died when he was seven years old. He was not allowed to be present during her illness, death, or burial. ?She was long gone before I knew anything about it? I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger? (Douglass 15). Frederick never knew his mother, but her strength, courage, and cunning determination served as inspiration for his own admirable ventures. He was born an inherently independent soul, but the ultimate inspiration for his conquests came when he learned the alphabet. Frederick had many masters. The Auld?s in Baltimore were the most important. Mistress Sophia Auld taught him the ABC?s, and how to spell certain three and four letter words. Frederick was grateful, and eager to learn more, but the teachings abruptly stopped when Mr. Auld found out what was going on. He forbade Mrs. Auld to continue; he told her it was unlawful and unsafe to teach a slave how to read. ?To use his own words, further, he said ?If you give a nigger an inch, he?ll take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master --- to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now, if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.? These words sank deep into my heart? (Douglass 31). These were the some of the most important words that Frederick would ever hear. He knew it would be difficult to continue learning without a teacher, but his master?s words gave him the desire and determination to do so. The decided manner with which Mr. Auld spoke assured Frederick that reading was the key to his freedom (Mabee 86). Throughout the next few months Frederick adopted a plan that he carried out during the following years. He made friends with all of the little white boys he met in the streets. He converted them into teachers, and finally learned how to read. He offered bread to the poor little hungry children, ?who, in return, would give me the more valuable bread of knowledge? (Douglass 34). When he was twelve years old, Frederick got hold of a book called The Columbian Orator. It was, for the most part, a dialogue between a slave and his master. In the end, the master voluntarily emancipated his slave because he knew it was the right thing to do. From this book Frederick learned the power of truth over the conscience, of even a slaveholder. The idea of truth became the main theme in Frederick?s later speeches, debates, and interviews in the north. The more he read, the more he hated those who believed in slavery. He sometimes felt that this blessing was a curse. He envied the other slaves for their stupidity. They were blind to so many of the evils of their masters. So he decided to teach them. When he was sixteen years old, Frederick devoted his Sundays to secretly teaching his fellow slaves how to read. This lasted about a year, and his class had grown to forty students before they were found out. Severe punishment obviously followed, but no amount of lashings could revoke the seeds that had already been planted. Frederick was so happy for what he had done. He wanted more. He wanted to be his own master, and he knew that they all deserved it. In 1835, his first attempt at freedom was unsuccessful?. But he ?remained firm, and, according to my resolution, on the third day of September, 1838, I left my chains and succeeded in reaching New York without the slightest interruption of any kind? (Douglass 74). In New York , Frederick dropped his two middle names and changed his last name to Douglass to avoid capture (Scruggs). For if an escaped southern slave was found in the north, he was then sent back to his master, which was an unimaginable personal shame and public punishment. In New York, he also met a man named Mr. David Ruggles, who took him to his boarding house, along with other fugitive slaves. Mr. Ruggles was deeply committed to the abolition movement, and kindly fetched a reverend to marry Douglass to his true love, Anna Murray. He then advised the newly married couple to travel further north to Massachusetts, for they would be much safer there. Douglass traveled to New Bedford, Massachusetts, and found employment three days after his arrival ?stowing a sloop with a load of oil? (Douglass 79). He was so proud to finally work for himself, to be his own master, and take home the whole of his hard earned wages. He later pursued a job in caulking, but found prejudice to stop him in his tracks. His trade provided no immediate benefit, so he tried to find any work he could. He sawed wood, dug cellars, shoveled coal, and swept chimneys for the next three years to earn his living . Douglass then began reading William Lloyd Garrison?s ?Liberator,? an anti-slavery journal. This prompted him to attend anti-slavery conventions and meetings. In 1841, at a meeting of the Massachusetts Antislavery Society, Douglass told what freedom meant to him. The society was so impressed with his speech that it hired him to lecture about his experiences as a slave (Scruggs). He was reluctant at first, but once he began he ?felt a degree of freedom? and said what he desired with considerable ease. From that time on, ?I engaged in pleading the cause of my brethren---with what success, and with what devotion, I leave those acquainted with my labors to decide? (Douglass 80). In the later 1840?s, Douglass protested against segregated seating on trains by sitting in cars reserved for whites. He had to be dragged from the white cars. Most railways eventually dropped their unethical policies, but the 6th Avenue Railway in New York was the most stubborn. New York City?s privately owned streetcar lines discriminated against blacks, requiring them to ride on the outside platforms of the cars, or restricting them to specially designated carriages that ran less frequently. Dougalss said ?I see, in the exclusion of the colored man from the Sixth Avenue Rail cars, the cruel and malignant spirit of caste, which is at the foundation, and is the cause, as well as the effect of our American slave system.? Following Douglass? speech, the meeting adopted resolutions and then adjourned (Douglass Speeches 208-9). His incredibly influential speeches, debates, and interviews continued, about every other day for thirty years, until his death in 1895. He spoke in Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Indiana, Scotland, England, Ohio, Maine, Canada, Connecticut, and mostly in New York and Pennsylvania, for that was where he could reach the largest liberal audiences. In 1855, talk of his speeches aroused the nation. As word spread, everyone wanted to hear the great orator. In ?Advice to Black Youth? in New York, he said ?the colored people have a special mission to perform in the U.S., a mission which none but themselves can perform.? He continued to explain the true essence of equality in all of his speeches (Douglass Speeches 3). He was a slave for more than twenty years. He would carry the marks of slavery on his back to his grave, and yet he still had the courage to preach to those who thought they were superior. In ?An Inside View of Slavery? in Massachusetts, he said ?There is no such thing as new truth or old truth. Error may be new or old. It has beginnings and it must have endings. But truth, like the great God from whose bosom it emanates, is from everlasting unto everlasting, and can never pass away. Such is the truth of man?s right to liberty. He was born with it?your fathers held it to be a self-evident truth? (Douglass Speeches 6-7). He frequently eluded to the Constitution?s statement that all men were created equal, and that this statement would never even attempt to become truth until slavery was abolished. ?Men do not hold their slaves by any tender tie,? Douglass also said in Massachusetts in 1855. He spoke of masters who supposedly treated their slaves nicely, who didn?t overwork them, who clothed and lodged them well, who did not whip or starve them. ?It deepens the evil of the system,? he said, ? A man has the feelings of a man, and is not only conscious of the right to liberty, but deep in his own soul is planted a love of liberty which is ever awake in his bosom? (Douglass Speeches 8-9). In 1845, Douglass published his autobiography, Narrative of the Live of Frederick Douglass. He feared that his identity as a runaway slave would be revealed when the book was published, so he went to England. England welcomed his continued speeches against slavery. His newfound friends there raised money to buy his freedom (Filler 194). Douglass returned to the United States in 1847 and founded an antislavery newspaper, the North Star, in Rochester, New York. He was a dedicated editor there for seventeen years (World Book). In 1859, Douglass again fled to England, this time in fear of prosecution. Letters linking him to John Brown?s raid on Harpers? Ferry led Virginia officials to seek him out for arrest. He professed his innocence, but expected no justice from southern hands. In England, he never received an insult or word reminding him of his color. He returned to America almost forgetting that he was a black man (Douglass Speeches 289). During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Douglass helped recruit African Americans for the Union Army. He discussed the problems of slavery with President Abraham Lincoln several times. On September 22, 1862 Lincoln issued a preliminary order to free the slaves. It declared that all slave states in rebellion against the Union on January 1, 1863 would forever be free. It did not include slave states loyal to the Union. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final order as the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation, though legally binding, was a war measure that could be reversed later. Therefore, in 1865, Lincoln helped push through Congress the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery throughout the nation (World Book). The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves, and allowed them to fight in the Civil War, but did not protect them from the extreme prejudice that was still the norm. Douglass? speeches became even more passionate at this time. He continued to work for civil rights for his fellow black Americans. He said that the Emancipation Proclamation ?presented many puzzles. It was a puzzle that men could resemble each other so closely, yet differ so widely? (Douglass Speeches 291). During all of this, he served as a recorder of the deeds in the District Of Columbia from 1881-1886 and as a U.S. minister to Haiti from 1889-1891. He wrote two expanded versions of his autobiography --- My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881). Frederick Douglass? majestic dignity, his logic and eloquence, and the power and influence of his round, soft, swelling pronunciation has inspired every generation since his existence. He is an icon in history. Benjamin Arthur Quarles wrote a novel about him in 1948. Jacob Lawrence painted a series about him (1938-1939). His hilltop estate in Cedar Hill became the Frederick Douglass National Historical Site in 1987. He bought the home in 1877 with his wife, Anna, and it became a station on the underground railroad system. They were the first black family to live in the Anacostia River neighborhood. He lived there until his death in 1895 (World Book). Frederick Douglass was one of the most remarkable Americans to ever have lived. He exchanged bread for knowledge. He escaped slavery to become an enormously influential figure in history. His autobiographies and speeches are published, which is a remarkable accomplishment for anyone at anytime--- especially him and especially then. His intelligence, courage, strength, and wisdom is admirable to people of all ages and all races. If he could escape slavery and become an influential social and political figure, then anything is possible? and the seed he planted is still growing. Since his death, blacks and women have gained the right to vote, and while discrimination was hefty during the major part of the 1900?s, it is virtually non-existant in the liberal, educated minds of the twenty-first century. Frederick Douglass had a most positive impact on our history. He opened closed minds, and was one of the reasons for the abolition of slavery. Frederick Douglass was the leading spokesman of African Americans in the 1800?s. Never knowing his mother or even the identity of his father, he was born a slave and escaped to the north when he was twenty years old. He learned how to read and write in secret, and it became his passion. The abolition of slavery and the fight for equal rights was the subject of all of his speeches, debates and interviews. He founded an antislavery newspaper, wrote several autobiographical books, and helped recruit African Americans for the Union army during the Civil War. His final home was a station along the underground railroad system. Frederick Douglass is one of the most important people in American History. The exact birth-date of Frederick Douglass is unknown, even to him. ?Slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell his birthday? (Douglass 13). Keeping knowledge from their slaves was the masters? key to dominance. Evidence of a restless spirit within a slave was deemed improper and impertinent, and treated with a trip to the whipping-post. Never the less, Douglass? careful ear heard his master say, sometime during 1835, that he was about seventeen years old. Sometime during 1818, Harriet Bailey gave birth to Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in Tuckahoe, Maryland, near Easton. She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsy Bailey, both colored, and quite dark. Frederick?s father, however, was white. Color was the only fact he knew about his father. Whispered opinions claimed that his master was his father, but the truth (or lack thereof) of these rumors was never known. ??true or false, it is of but little consequence to my purpose whilst the fact remains, in all its glaring odiousness, that slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable; for by this cunning arrangement, the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father. I know of such cases? The master is frequently compelled to sell this class of his slaves, out of deference to the feelings of his white wife? (Douglass 14). Another custom in slavery, probably also out of deference to the feelings of the white wife, is to part children from their mothers at a very early age. Frederick was separated from his mother when he was an infant --- before he even knew her as his mother. Harriet Bailey was moved about twelve miles away. After the performance of her days work, she would sneak out and travel the whole distance on foot just to see her little baby son, hoping he would sense his mother?s love. She would lie down with him, get him to sleep, and long before he would wake she was gone (Filler 50). She died when he was seven years old. He was not allowed to be present during her illness, death, or burial. ?She was long gone before I knew anything about it? I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger? (Douglass 15). Frederick never knew his mother, but her strength, courage, and cunning determination served as inspiration for his own admirable ventures. He was born an inherently independent soul, but the ultimate inspiration for his conquests came when he learned the alphabet. Frederick had many masters. The Auld?s in Baltimore were the most important. Mistress Sophia Auld taught him the ABC?s, and how to spell certain three and four letter words. Frederick was grateful, and eager to learn more, but the teachings abruptly stopped when Mr. Auld found out what was going on. He forbade Mrs. Auld to continue; he told her it was unlawful and unsafe to teach a slave how to read. ?To use his own words, further, he said ?If you give a nigger an inch, he?ll take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master --- to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now, if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.? These words sank deep into my heart? (Douglass 31). These were the some of the most important words that Frederick would ever hear. He knew it would be difficult to continue learning without a teacher, but his master?s words gave him the desire and determination to do so. The decided manner with which Mr. Auld spoke assured Frederick that reading was the key to his freedom (Mabee 86). Throughout the next few months Frederick adopted a plan that he carried out during the following years. He made friends with all of the little white boys he met in the streets. He converted them into teachers, and finally learned how to read. He offered bread to the poor little hungry children, ?who, in return, would give me the more valuable bread of knowledge? (Douglass 34). When he was twelve years old, Frederick got hold of a book called The Columbian Orator. It was, for the most part, a dialogue between a slave and his master. In the end, the master voluntarily emancipated his slave because he knew it was the right thing to do. From this book Frederick learned the power of truth over the conscience, of even a slaveholder. The idea of truth became the main theme in Frederick?s later speeches, debates, and interviews in the north. The more he read, the more he hated those who believed in slavery. He sometimes felt that this blessing was a curse. He envied the other slaves for their stupidity. They were blind to so many of the evils of their masters. So he decided to teach them. When he was sixteen years old, Frederick devoted his Sundays to secretly teaching his fellow slaves how to read. This lasted about a year, and his class had grown to forty students before they were found out. Severe punishment obviously followed, but no amount of lashings could revoke the seeds that had already been planted. Frederick was so happy for what he had done. He wanted more. He wanted to be his own master, and he knew that they all deserved it. In 1835, his first attempt at freedom was unsuccessful?. But he ?remained firm, and, according to my resolution, on the third day of September, 1838, I left my chains and succeeded in reaching New York without the slightest interruption of any kind? (Douglass 74). In New York , Frederick dropped his two middle names and changed his last name to Douglass to avoid capture (Scruggs). For if an escaped southern slave was found in the north, he was then sent back to his master, which was an unimaginable personal shame and public punishment. In New York, he also met a man named Mr. David Ruggles, who took him to his boarding house, along with other fugitive slaves. Mr. Ruggles was deeply committed to the abolition movement, and kindly fetched a reverend to marry Douglass to his true love, Anna Murray. He then advised the newly married couple to travel further north to Massachusetts, for they would be much safer there. Douglass traveled to New Bedford, Massachusetts, and found employment three days after his arrival ?stowing a sloop with a load of oil? (Douglass 79). He was so proud to finally work for himself, to be his own master, and take home the whole of his hard earned wages. He later pursued a job in caulking, but found prejudice to stop him in his tracks. His trade provided no immediate benefit, so he tried to find any work he could. He sawed wood, dug cellars, shoveled coal, and swept chimneys for the next three years to earn his living . Douglass then began reading William Lloyd Garrison?s ?Liberator,? an anti-slavery journal. This prompted him to attend anti-slavery conventions and meetings. In 1841, at a meeting of the Massachusetts Antislavery Society, Douglass told what freedom meant to him. The society was so impressed with his speech that it hired him to lecture about his experiences as a slave (Scruggs). He was reluctant at first, but once he began he ?felt a degree of freedom? and said what he desired with considerable ease. From that time on, ?I engaged in pleading the cause of my brethren---with what success, and with what devotion, I leave those acquainted with my labors to decide? (Douglass 80). In the later 1840?s, Douglass protested against segregated seating on trains by sitting in cars reserved for whites. He had to be dragged from the white cars. Most railways eventually dropped their unethical policies, but the 6th Avenue Railway in New York was the most stubborn. New York City?s privately owned streetcar lines discriminated against blacks, requiring them to ride on the outside platforms of the cars, or restricting them to specially designated carriages that ran less frequently. Dougalss said ?I see, in the exclusion of the colored man from the Sixth Avenue Rail cars, the cruel and malignant spirit of caste, which is at the foundation, and is the cause, as well as the effect of our American slave system.? Following Douglass? speech, the meeting adopted resolutions and then adjourned (Douglass Speeches 208-9). His incredibly influential speeches, debates, and interviews continued, about every other day for thirty years, until his death in 1895. He spoke in Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Indiana, Scotland, England, Ohio, Maine, Canada, Connecticut, and mostly in New York and Pennsylvania, for that was where he could reach the largest liberal audiences. In 1855, talk of his speeches aroused the nation. As word spread, everyone wanted to hear the great orator. In ?Advice to Black Youth? in New York, he said ?the colored people have a special mission to perform in the U.S., a mission which none but themselves can perform.? He continued to explain the true essence of equality in all of his speeches (Douglass Speeches 3). He was a slave for more than twenty years. He would carry the marks of slavery on his back to his grave, and yet he still had the courage to preach to those who thought they were superior. In ?An Inside View of Slavery? in Massachusetts, he said ?There is no such thing as new truth or old truth. Error may be new or old. It has beginnings and it must have endings. But truth, like the great God from whose bosom it emanates, is from everlasting unto everlasting, and can never pass away. Such is the truth of man?s right to liberty. He was born with it?your fathers held it to be a self-evident truth? (Douglass Speeches 6-7). He frequently eluded to the Constitution?s statement that all men were created equal, and that this statement would never even attempt to become truth until slavery was abolished. ?Men do not hold their slaves by any tender tie,? Douglass also said in Massachusetts in 1855. He spoke of masters who supposedly treated their slaves nicely, who didn?t overwork them, who clothed and lodged them well, who did not whip or starve them. ?It deepens the evil of the system,? he said, ? A man has the feelings of a man, and is not only conscious of the right to liberty, but deep in his own soul is planted a love of liberty which is ever awake in his bosom? (Douglass Speeches 8-9). In 1845, Douglass published his autobiography, Narrative of the Live of Frederick Douglass. He feared that his identity as a runaway slave would be revealed when the book was published, so he went to England. England welcomed his continued speeches against slavery. His newfound friends there raised money to buy his freedom (Filler 194). Douglass returned to the United States in 1847 and founded an antislavery newspaper, the North Star, in Rochester, New York. He was a dedicated editor there for seventeen years (World Book). In 1859, Douglass again fled to England, this time in fear of prosecution. Letters linking him to John Brown?s raid on Harpers? Ferry led Virginia officials to seek him out for arrest. He professed his innocence, but expected no justice from southern hands. In England, he never received an insult or word reminding him of his color. He returned to America almost forgetting that he was a black man (Douglass Speeches 289). During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Douglass helped recruit African Americans for the Union Army. He discussed the problems of slavery with President Abraham Lincoln several times. On September 22, 1862 Lincoln issued a preliminary order to free the slaves. It declared that all slave states in rebellion against the Union on January 1, 1863 would forever be free. It did not include slave states loyal to the Union. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final order as the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation, though legally binding, was a war measure that could be reversed later. Therefore, in 1865, Lincoln helped push through Congress the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery throughout the nation (World Book). The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves, and allowed them to fight in the Civil War, but did not protect them from the extreme prejudice that was still the norm. Douglass? speeches became even more passionate at this time. He continued to work for civil rights for his fellow black Americans. He said that the Emancipation Proclamation ?presented many puzzles. It was a puzzle that men could resemble each other so closely, yet differ so widely? (Douglass Speeches 291). During all of this, he served as a recorder of the deeds in the District Of Columbia from 1881-1886 and as a U.S. minister to Haiti from 1889-1891. He wrote two expanded versions of his autobiography --- My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881). Frederick Douglass? majestic dignity, his logic and eloquence, and the power and influence of his round, soft, swelling pronunciation has inspired every generation since his existence. He is an icon in history. Benjamin Arthur Quarles wrote a novel about him in 1948. Jacob Lawrence painted a series about him (1938-1939). His hilltop estate in Cedar Hill became the Frederick Douglass National Historical Site in 1987. He bought the home in 1877 with his wife, Anna, and it became a station on the underground railroad system. They were the first black family to live in the Anacostia River neighborhood. He lived there until his death in 1895 (World Book). Frederick Douglass was one of the most remarkable Americans to ever have lived. He exchanged bread for knowledge. He escaped slavery to become an enormously influential figure in history. His autobiographies and speeches are published, which is a remarkable accomplishment for anyone at anytime--- especially him and especially then. His intelligence, courage, strength, and wisdom is admirable to people of all ages and all races. If he could escape slavery and become an influential social and political figure, then anything is possible? and the seed he planted is still growing. Since his death, blacks and women have gained the right to vote, and while discrimination was hefty during the major part of the 1900?s, it is virtually non-existant in the liberal, educated minds of the twenty-first century. Frederick Douglass had a most positive impact on our history. He opened closed minds, and was one of the reasons for the abolition of slavery. Bibliography: Bibliography Blassingame, J., McKivgan, J., and Hinks, P., eds. The Frederick Douglass Papers. Series Two: Autobiographical Writings. Volume 1: Narrative. London: Yale University Press, 1999. Blassingame, J., ed. The Frederick Douglass Papers. Series One: Speeches, Debates, and Interviews. Volume 3: 1855-1863. London: Yale University Press, 1985. Filler, Louis. Abolition and social justice in the era of reform. New York: Harper and Row, 1972. Mabee, Carleton. Black Freedom: The Nonviolent Abolitionists from 1830 Through the Civil War. London: The Macmillan Company, 1970. Scruggs, Otey, ?Douglass, Frederick,? World Book Online America?s Edition, http://www.aolsvc.worldbook.aol.com/ar'/na/co/ar165160.htm (17 November 2002). ?Frederick Douglass National Historical Site,? World Book Online Americas Edition, http://www.aolsvc.worldbook.aol.com/ar'/na/co/ar749644.htm, (17 November 2002). Toppin, Edgar Allen, ?Quarles, Benjamin Arthur,? World Book Online Americas Edition, http://www.aolsvc.worldbook.aol.com/ar'/na/ar/co/ar454415.htm, (17 November 2002).