Frederick Douglass was a former slave who became a leading abolitionist and social reformer.
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With this letter, now housed at The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, we honour Frederick Douglass’ legacy and champion his belief in the equality of all peoples.
Douglass’ works, including his autobiographies such as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), continue to be widely read, with his words carrying new weight in today’s challenging social and political climate.
Wells was posthumously honoured with a Pulitzer Prize special citation.
However, in 2020 Ida B.
At the time, many in the Civil rights community were ambivalent about or outright against a woman leading the movement and she was left out of many subsequent historical narratives in favour of her male counterparts, including her role in founding the NAACP.
When Douglass died in 1895 his torch was passed to Wells.
Over the course of their lifetimes dedicated to combating prejudice and violence, and fighting for African American and gender equality, Douglass and Wells became two of the most famous Black leaders in America.
Armstrong, in which he praised Wells’ character as a “brave and truthful woman.” In England, Wells quickly found sympathetic audiences, who were shocked by reports of lynching and other anti-Black violence in America.
Douglass wrote letters of support and introduction for Wells before she began her campaigns, including this one written to the Reverend R.
A.
In the 1890s, when Douglass was too ill to make a trip to Britain to speak on the experience of former slaves in America, he recommended that Wells tour in his place.
Wells, too, was born into slavery, though she was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation during the American Civil War.
Wells was a noted anti-lynching leader, investigative journalist and educator, as well as one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Wells.
When his health began to decline in the late 1800s, he continued to support the movement by championing fellow African American leaders, including Ida B.
As the acknowledged national leader for African American Civil rights, Frederick Douglass travelled and spoke extensively on the subject.
He was an active supporter of the women’s suffrage movement, especially in his role holding public office.
His human rights work was dedicated to advancing the status of not only African Americans, but all groups experiencing discrimination.
After escaping slavery in Maryland, Douglass became famous for his incisive antislavery writings and speeches.
Today, he is regarded as the father of the American Civil Rights movement.
Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass broke free of his chains, rising in American society to become a celebrated abolitionist, social reformer, statesman, orator, author, diplomat and public official.
With this letter, we celebrate the legacies of these revered African American leaders.
Wells to take his place.
When too ill to continue his speaking engagements, he wrote letters of support for the anti-lynching activist Ida B.
Frederick Douglass was a former slave who became a leading abolitionist and social reformer
