Leaders Of The Past: Fredrick Douglass

“If there is no struggle, then there is no progress!”
-Fredrick Douglass

As I was working on my dissertation, I came across some literature about Fredrick Douglass and was instantly intrigued. His story of slavery, writing and speaking, and his assistance in the Civil War has left a lasting impact on my thinking.

Douglass possessed the determination and persistence for greatness. As a young boy, he taught himself to read, ran away from his master by the age of 20 (that was the last time he was enslaved), and wrote three autobiographies: The Life of Fredrick Douglass, An American Slave in 1845; My Bondage, My Freedom in 1855; and the Life and Times of Fredrick Douglass in 1881.

For sixteen years, this former slave, authored a newspaper, went on a two year speaking tour in Great Britain and Ireland, delivered thousands of speeches, and was a prominent champion for ending slavery. 

His passion for racial equality was transparent once the Civil War arrived. Fredrick Douglass was one of the most influential men in the world, and that influence was noted in 1863 when President Lincoln enacted the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves from the Confederate Territory. 

Douglass went on to serve on several political positions such as the president of Freedman’s Savings Bank, charge of affairs for Santo Domingo, general counsel to the Republic of Haiti, and in 1872, became the first African American to ever appear on a presidential ballot as a vice presidential nominee. 

Fredrick Douglass shows our students that our start does not predict our ending. Believing in yourself, taking advantage of all opportunities, and using your written and spoken communication can effect positive change in the world.

If our students carry these three traits, like this American legend, they can change the world as well.

-Rodney S. Lewis, Ed.D.