Frederick Douglass for Kids Read online

  Frederick remembered, “Mr. Ruggles was the first officer on the underground railroad with whom I met after reaching the north, and indeed, the first of whom I ever heard anything.” Gradually, Frederick learned all about the Underground Railroad. He learned that men and women who helped fugitive slaves were called officers and conductors. Officers and conductors provided food, warm clothing, and a place to sleep to the fugitives. They hid fugitives in secret hideouts until arrangements could be made to send them safely on their way. Some officers and conductors on the Underground Railroad bought tickets for passage on trains, boats, or carriages for fugitives who showed up at their doors. Others transported these men, women, and children by hiding them in wagons or leading them on foot by night to the next stop. Each stop at the Underground Railroad had secret hideouts where the fugitives hid until arrangements could be made to send them safely to the next stop.

  Abolitionist David Ruggles hid Frederick for several days in a house that stood on this site at 36 Lispenard Street. Photo by author

  THE CURRENT WORLD

  SLAVE MARKET

  Adult supervision recommended

  The global economic crisis has affected the existence of slavery in the world today. Poor people in many countries are still forced to work against their will.

  Organizations such as UNICEF and World Vision work hard to help people who are forced to live or work in slavelike conditions. The United Nations endorses rights that every child should have.

  Explore opportunities to help at organizations such as UNICEF (www.unicef.org) or World Vision (www.WorldVi-sion.org) or even at a local church or trusted community organization. You can make donations, sponsor a child, organize a fund-raiser, help provide assistance after a natural disaster, or join discussions on important worldwide issues.

  David Ruggles (1810-1849)

  Famous in antislavery circles, David Ruggles, along with his fellow abolitionists in New York City, helped over 1,000 fugitives on their journey to freedom. When a poor, hungry, unknown fugitive arrived in the city, Ruggles helped him too. Little did Ruggles know this man he helped would become the most famous abolitionist of all, Frederick Douglass!

  Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-90789

  Plaque of the marriage certificate. Photo by author, courtesy of Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park

  Ruggles took Frederick to 36 Lispenard Street, where he had a bookstore and reading room. There, he hid Frederick for several days until Anna Murray could arrive to meet him.

  “God and right stood vindicated. I was A FREEMAN, and the voice of peace and joy thrilled my heart.”

  —Frederick Douglass

  The Dawn of Happiness

  Frederick sent word to Anna Murray that he had reached New York City. Quickly, she finished packing her trunks. She hurried from Baltimore to 36 Lispenard Street, where Frederick was hiding from kidnappers, safe in the hands of the New York Vigilance Committee. A group of abolitionists, the New York Vigilance Committee was one of the most influential and active forces against slavery in America, helping over 1,000 fugitives on their flight to freedom.

  Arrangements were made for Frederick and Anna’s marriage. Reverend James W. C. Pennington performed the ceremony while Ruggles and another friend looked on. Frederick Bailey was advised to choose a new last name to use in order to avoid being discovered by kidnappers, and he chose the name of Johnson. Pennington pronounced the new Mr. and Mrs. Johnson as man and wife. It was a happy day.

  When Ruggles learned that Frederick was a caulker, he recommended the newlyweds move to New Bedford, Massachusetts. Ruggles was certain Frederick could find work there. He also knew there was an active branch of the Underground Railroad operating in New Bedford under the capable hands of Nathan Johnson and his wife, Mary (called Polly). Ruggles sent the young couple on their way.

  Frederick and Anna left New York City on a steamer bound for Newport, Rhode Island. They then traveled the final leg of their journey by stagecoach. “Thus,” Frederick recalled, “in one fortnight after my flight from Maryland, I was safe in New Bedford, regularly entered upon the exercise of the rights, responsibilities, and duties of a freeman.”

  A New Home

  Frederick and Anna Johnson arrived at the home of Nathan and Mary Johnson in New Bedford. The young couple was overwhelmed by the generosity of these kind abolitionists. Learning that their trunks had been kept by the stagecoach driver until Frederick could pay for his fare, Nathan Johnson immediately loaned Frederick the two dollars he needed to retrieve his baggage.

  The newly married couple disembarked from a steamer at the wharf in Newport, Rhode Island, and took a stagecoach to New Bedford, Massachusetts. Courtesy of Documenting the American South, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries

  Once the trunks were secure, the Johnsons offered a home to Frederick and Anna. They unpacked their few possessions, and Anna set up housekeeping.

  The question of Frederick’s new name came up. Nathan Johnson recommended he choose a different name. There were already too many Johnsons living in New Bedford. Mentioning that he was reading The Lady of the Lake, a poem by Sir Walter Scott, Nathan suggested the name Douglas, a noble character in the poem. Frederick appreciated the suggestion and chose Douglass, the common spelling of the name in his day.

  James William Charles

  Pennington (c. 1807-1870)

  Reverend James W. C. Pennington was still a fugitive himself when he performed the marriage ceremony for Frederick and Anna “Johnson” Douglass. Author of numerous books, articles, and sermons, he was selected as a delegate to the 1843 World’s Antislavery Convention and the World’s Peace Convention, both held in London.

  Courtesy of Documenting the American South, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries

  So Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, the name given by his mother when he was born, became Frederick Douglass, the name that would ring its way into history.

  The first home of Frederick and Anna Douglass, New Bedford, Massachusetts. Photo by author

  Nathan and Mary (Polly) Johnson

  Active abolitionists living in New Bedford, Nathan and Polly Johnson acquired several properties in the community. Nathan was elected president of the 1847 National Convention of Colored Citizens. By providing a home for him and guiding him on how to live as a freeman, Frederick Douglass said the Johnsons helped him “in this the hour of my extremest need.”

  Situated next to the first home of Frederick and Anna Douglass was this building, also owned by Nathan Johnson, a former Quaker meetinghouse for the New Bedford Society of Friends. Photo by author

  3

  “A NEW NATION CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY …”

  A Brand New Life

  The very first afternoon after arriving in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Frederick Douglass walked down to the wharves. Having lived near shipyards and worked as a caulker on ships in Baltimore, he felt he was right at home. Yet the marked difference between his new home and his old stood out sharply in his mind.

  Here on the wharves in New Bedford everyone was free. Workers quietly tended to their tasks, black and white together, fitting out the full-rigged whaling ships for long voyages to faraway seas. Nowhere could the slave driver’s whip be heard. Absent were the mournful tunes of the slaves’ work songs. Instead, everywhere it seemed, Douglass saw men and women clothed in the simple dress of Quakers, a group of people known to be abolitionists. He felt safe here and was eager to find work to support himself and his new wife.

  Quilt: “Tote that Bale,” by Barbara Pietila, 2006. Photo by author, courtesy of Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park

  New Bedford home of John H. Clifford, where Douglass served as a servant. Photo by author

  Within three days, Douglass found his first job loading barrels of oil on a sloop headed for New York. It was hard work. However, Douglass admitted, “That day’s work I considered the real starting point of something like a new existence.�
�� For the first time in his life, the work and the wages he earned were his own.

  Even though New Bedford was in Massachusetts, a free state, Douglass experienced deep prejudice. Threatened by white workers if he took a high-paying job such as caulking, Douglass put his hands to any work he could find. “I now prepared myself to do anything which came to hand in the way of turning an honest penny,” Douglass explained, “sawed wood—dug cellars— shoveled coal—swept chimneys with Uncle Lucas Debuty—rolled oil casks on the wharves—helped to load and unload vessels—worked in Ricketson’s candle works—in Richmond’s brass foundry, and elsewhere; and thus supported myself and family for three years.”

  One of the jobs Frederick Douglass found was as a servant in the home of attorney John H. Clifford, who would later become governor of Massachusetts. Here in this elegant mansion, one of Douglass’s duties was to wait on important guests and serve them in the dining room. One of the guests he served was an aristocrat named Robert C. Winthrop. As Douglass stood behind Winthrop’s chair, fulfilling his duties as servant, he was captivated by the elegant conversation of this wealthy and influential man. Douglass simply could not have imagined that 25 years later, he would share the same speaking platform with Winthrop, scheduled to speak in the famous Faneuil Hall of Boston before a grand and brilliant audience.

  That day would come. For now, however, newly freed from slavery, Douglass was happy to find work as a servant and earn his own wages.

  A Growing Family

  Frederick and Anna Douglass made New Bedford their home. For the first time in her life, Anna enjoyed taking care of her own home instead of working as a maid for someone else.

  What a difference Frederick and Anna found in New Bedford! Unlike areas in the slave states where maids had to tote water from a well, New Bedford was home to a variety of up-to-date gadgets. Water was available inside the houses from indoor pumps. Kitchens had sinks and drains. The earliest manual washing machines were common in most households, although Anna probably still used a washboard when she first arrived in New Bedford.

  The Douglasses started a family. Anna stayed at home in the two rooms they rented, caring for their growing family. First came Rosetta, a precious little girl. Next arrived a son, Lewis Henry. A second son followed, and they named him Frederick Douglass Jr., after his father.

  Frederick and Anna fondly remembered these early years of their new life together. Each day, Frederick came home from a hard day’s work to eat the meal Anna had prepared. Dinner dishes were spread out neatly on a snow-white tablecloth. Their small children gathered around the table to join in the meal together. Even though surrounded by hardships and living in near-poverty conditions, it was a happy time for the young family. The joy of freedom made it so.

  The Douglass Children

  Frederick and Anna Douglass had five children. Their first three children were born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Rosetta, their first daughter, was born in 1839. Lewis Henry, their oldest son, was born in 1840. They named their third child Frederick Jr. when he was born in 1842. Their fourth child was born in 1844 when they lived in Lynn, Massachusetts. This son was named Charles Remond after the most famous black abolitionist of the day before Douglass stepped into that role. Their last child, Annie, was born in 1849 after they moved to Rochester, New York, but died at a young age.

  Toy trolley belonging to the Douglass grandchildren. Photo by author, courtesy of Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park

  These playing cards belonged to the Douglass grandchildren.

  Photo by author, courtesy of Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park

  CLOTHESPIN DOLLS

  During the early years of America, many children played with dolls made from clothespins and fabric scraps. You can make clothespin dolls of the five Douglass children.

  Materials

  Doll pins, or old-fashioned wooden clothespins without springs

  Craft paint

  Paint brush

  Fabric scraps

  Scissors

  Ruler or tape measure

  Fine-tip permanent markers

  Working on a covered surface, paint several wooden doll pins brown. Allow to dry. Cut various basic shapes from fabric with the measurements shown.

  To cut a tiny slit for the neck or waist, follow Steps 1 to 3 as shown.

  To make a clothespin doll of Lewis Douglass, paint the bottom half of a doll pin black to make it look like he is wearing black pants. Cut a slit in a 3-inch square and slip it over the head of the doll pin to form his shirt. Tie a ¼ x 12-inch fabric strip around his waist as shown to form a belt. Make dolls of Frederick Jr. and Charles in a similar way.

  The clothespin dolls of Rosetta and Annie Douglass will wear a dress or a skirt and blouse. To make the skirt and blouse, cut a slit in a 4½-inch circle and slip it over the head of the doll pin, pulling it down to the waist. Cut a slit in a 3-inch square and slip it over the head of the doll pin to form her blouse. Tie a ¼ x 12-inch fabric strip around her waist as shown to form a belt.

  To make a dress, cut a slit in the 2 x 6½-inch rectangle and slip it over the head of the doll pin. Tie a ¼ x 12-inch fabric strip around her waist as shown to form a belt.

  If you want to add an apron or a scarf, tie ¼ x 12-inch fabric strips through slits cut in a triangle as shown. Then tie the triangle at the waist to form an apron, or over the head to form a scarf. You may add shoes or facial features to your dolls with paints or permanent markers.

  Indoor water pump in the home of Frederick and Anna Douglass at Cedar Hill. Photo by author, courtesy National Park Service, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site

  Joining the Church

  Soon after arriving in New Bedford, Frederick Douglass decided to look for a church where he could worship. Believing firmly that men and women were created equal and should enjoy equal rights, he attended the Elm Street Methodist Church, a mostly white congregation. Upon his arrival, however, he was instructed to join the other free blacks seated upstairs in the gallery, apart from the main body of the congregation.

  Douglass, unsure of the church’s stand on equal rights, sat in the area where the church officials directed him to sit. After several meetings, however, it was time for the church to take communion, or the Lord’s Supper. That day, after the minister preached his sermon, he invited the white members to join in the Lord’s Supper. When they were finished, the minister then invited the black members to come forward to take communion. At this invitation, Douglass said, “I went out, and have never been in that church since, although I honestly went there with a view to joining that body.”

  Douglass felt greatly disappointed. Here, living as a free man in a free state, the deep prejudice he encountered caused him to struggle. How could people profess to be Christians and view another person with such deep prejudice simply because their skin was a different color? Douglass would wrestle with this conflict his entire life. After visiting several other churches in the community and being treated in the same degrading manner, Douglass finally joined the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (A.M.E. Zion) denomination, which had a small African American church in New Bedford.

  James Varick

  Black Methodists in New York City organized to form a new denomination: African Methodist Episcopal Zion. In 1822 James Varick was elected as the first bishop. The A.M.E. Zion eventually became known as the Freedom Church because included among its lists of members were famous abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth.

  Courtesy of Documenting the American South, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries

  Frederick Douglass quickly formed deep bonds of friendship with the members of the A.M.E. Zion church. Eager to strengthen his own faith and burning with a desire to speak about the life principles he was learning, he quickly became a class leader. He soon began preaching sermons as well. In this small church whose congregation met in a school building on Second Street, Douglass had his earliest expe
riences as a speaker. It was a time he always remembered with joy.

  The Liberator

  One day, about five months after moving to New Bedford, a young man offered Frederick Douglass a subscription to a newspaper. Douglass said, “I told him I had but just escaped from slavery, and was of course very poor, and remarked further, that I was unable to pay for it.” Nevertheless, the young man signed Douglass up for a subscription and handed him his first copy of the Liberator.

  The Liberator was an antislavery newspaper edited by William Lloyd Garrison. It took a firm stand against slavery and was read widely by abolitionists. “I not only liked,” Frederick Douglass admitted, “I loved this paper, and its editor. He seemed a match for all the opponents of emancipation.”

  Douglass devoured this newspaper as a starving man gulps down food. He read every issue from cover to cover. During this time Douglass worked at a brass foundry. His work involved high temperatures and extreme physical labor. He worked the bellows, swung the crane, and emptied containers where boiling metal was poured into different shapes. At times, Douglass worked around the clock, two days in a row, or he worked every single day of the workweek.