Frederick Douglass was on of the most important black leaders in the Antislavery movement. He was born 1817 in Talbot Country, MD. He was the son of Harriet Bailey, and an unknown white man. His mother was a slave therefore he was born a slave. He lived with his grandparents until the age of eight, so he never got a chance to know his mother well. When he turned eight, he was sent to "Aunt Kathy", a woman who took care of slave children on the plantation of Colonel Edward Lloyd. When he reached the age of nine, he was sent to Baltimore where he lived with Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Auld. He started to study reading with Mrs. Auld but Mr. Auld forbid it. However he still managed to learn anyway. To cause him to relate to slavery more easily, Mr. Auld sent him to Edward Covey, a man who specialized in breaking down the spirits of rebellious slaves, or "slave breaker". While there, he was beaten daily for the slightest offense against the strict rules.
             One day he finally fought back in a fight that lasted two hours, and forced him to Covey to stop trying to "break" him. He was returned to Auld, where he was sent to a shipyard to learn the caulker's trade. But that didn't stop his education, he not only learned caulking but he also learned to write by tracing letters on the ship front. Using seaman's papers given to by a free black he escaped by sea. He tried to get work as a caulker but racial discrimination forced him to become a common laborer. To avoid being taken back, he changed his last name to Douglass. He soon became part of the antislavery movement when he came in with the association wit the Liberator, which belonged to William Lloyd Garrison, he also joined the black Garrisonians of New Bedford. He attended the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in Nantucket, in 1841. When they asked him to speak, he spoke of his experiences as a slave. His speech made a deep impression, and the society hired him as a full-time
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