Douglass
FREDERICK, an American lecturer and journalist; the son of a negro slave; born in Tuckahoe, Md., in February, 1817. Though his father was a white man, he was, according to the law, reared as a slave. In 1832 he was purchased by a Baltimore ship-builder, but made his escape in 1838. As he had taught himself to read and write, and showed talent as an orator, he was employed by the Anti-slavery Society as one of their lecturers. In 1845 he published his autobiography, and afterward made a successful lecturing tour in England.
In 1870 he started a journal entitled "The New National Era"; in 1871 he was appointed secretary of the commission to Santo Domingo; in 1872, presidential elector; and in 1877 marshal for the District of Columbia. He was commissioner of deeds for that district, 1881- 1886; and United States Minister to Haiti in 1890. He died in Washington, D. C., Feb. 20, 1895.