FREDERICK DOUGLASS was one of the foremost leaders
of the abolitionist movement, which fought to end slavery
within the United States in the decades prior to the Civil
War. When the American Anti-Slavery Society engaged him
on a tour of lectures, he became one of America's first great
black speakers. He won world fame with his first
autobiography, NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
FREDERICK DOUGLAS (1845). Two years later he began
publishing an antislavery paper called the North Star.
Douglass served as an adviser to President Lincoln during
the Civil War and fought for the adoption of constitutional
amendments that guaranteed voting rights and other civil
liberties for blacks. He is still revered today for his fight
against racial injustice.
