After being taught the alphabet by his owner's wife, Frederick Douglass secretly taught himself to read and write. When she caught him reading the newspaper, she snatched it away. Douglass believed "knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom."
Essential Facts
Escaped slavery in 1838 by posing as a free black sailor
Subscribed to William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator
Became a well-known orator and lecturer in the abolitionist movement
Wrote his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, in 1845
Attended the Seneca Falls Convention supporting women's suffrage
