Institute for American Thought Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis

About Frederick Douglass:
Timeline

Year	Day & Month	Event
1818	c. 14 February	Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey born on Holme Hill farm in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland to Harriet Bailey, a slave. His father was rumored to be a white man, possibly his master, Captain Aaron Anthony.
1826		Aaron Anthony died. Frederick Bailey was inherited by Anthony's son-in-law, Thomas Auld. Auld then hired Bailey to his brother, Hugh Auld, in Baltimore, where Douglass worked in the shipyards. Hugh Auld's wife, Sophia, began to teach Bailey to read, but the lessons ceased at the insistence of her husband. Bailey continued his reading lessons among the white boys on the streets of Baltimore and using Caleb Bingham's The Columbian Orator.
1834		Sent to the "slave breaker," Edward Covey. Bailey's resistance to Covey's violent methods became a defining moment in his life and his resolve to run away.
1835		First attempted to escape with a group of slaves.  They were betrayed by one of their number and jailed.
1837-38		Met Anna Murray, a free black woman working in Baltimore, while attending the East Baltimore Mental Improvement Society. She helps him plan his escape.
1838	3 September	Frederick Bailey escaped from slavery using the forged papers of a sailor. He traveled by railroad from Maryland to New York City.
	15 September	Bailey and Anna Murray married and moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts. He adopted the name Frederick Douglass.
1839	24 June	Rosetta Douglass, first daughter, born.
1840	9 October	Lewis Henry Douglass, first son, born.
1841	10-12 August	Attended an antislavery meeting on Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he made an impromptu speech (although not his first) that captured the attention of William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison then hired Douglass as a lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society.
1842	3 March	Frederick Douglass, Jr., second son, born.
1844	21 October	Charles Remond Douglass, third son, born.
1845		Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave published in the United States.
1845-47		Tour of England, Scotland and Ireland
1846		Rumors that Douglass's former master plans to return him to slavery prompted Douglass's friends and supporters in Britain to raise money and buy his freedom.
1847		Returned to the United States and relocates to Rochester, New York, an industrial town on the shore of Lake Ontario.
		Began publication of the North Star with partners Martin R. Delaney and John K. Dick.
1848		Attended the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York.
1849	22 March	Annie Douglass, second daughter, born.
1851		Ended publication of the North Star, began publication of Frederick Douglass' Paper.
1855		Second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom, published.
1859		Began publication of Douglass' Monthly, a supplement to Frederick Douglass's Paper.
		After assisting John Brown in planning a raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in order to incite a slave revolt, Douglass declined to join the expedition. When the plan failed, Douglass fled to England for six months to avoid prosecution
1860	March	Annie, his younger daughter, died in Rochester while Douglass was still in England.
	April	Douglass returned from England.
		Ended publication of Frederick Douglass's Paper, continued publication of its supplement, Douglass' Monthly.
1861		Civil War began.
1863	1 January	Emancipation Proclamation effective.
		Douglass ended publication of Douglass' Monthly.
	February	Recruited members for the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, a black regiment in the Union Army.  Sons Charles and Lewis joined the regiment. Son Frederick Douglass, Jr., became a recruiter.
1865	18 December	13th Amendment ratified: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their Jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
1868	28 July	14th Amendment ratified: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
1870		Began publication of New National Era in Washington, D.C.
	30 March	15th Amendment ratified: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Congress shall have poser to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
1872		The Equal Rights Party, headed by it presidential nominee, Victoria Woodhull, nominated Douglass as its vice-presidential candidate.  Douglass does not publicly associate himself with this party, and did not meet Woodhull until his third trip to Europe over a decade later.
		Arsonists allegedly burned the Douglass home in Rochester, destroying many of Douglass's papers.  The family moved to Washington, D.C.
1874	March	Appointed head of the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company.
		Ended publication of New National Era.
1877		Appointed U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia.
1878		Purchased Cedar Hill, an estate in Anacostia, District of Columbia.
1881		Appointed Douglass recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia.
1881		Third autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, published.
1882	4 August	Anna Murray Douglass died.
1884	24 January	Frederick Douglass married Helen Pitts, a white woman and his secretary.
1886-87		Toured Europe and northern Africa
1888-91		Served as minister and consul to Haiti. Resigned amid charges that he was too sympathetic to the Haitian interests.
1891		Revised edition of Life and Times of Frederick Douglass published.
1892-93		Led Haitian legation to World's Columbian Exposition
1895	20 February	Died at Cedar Hill.