Frederick Douglass was a civil rights leader in the 19th century who was a brilliant writer and speaker. He had the ability to motivate large crowds of people and on an individual level. He was self-educated, eloquent, read everything he could get his hands on, and was very forward thinking.
As a former slave, Douglass rose through the ranks of American society to become an informal adviser to Lincoln, and someone who was influential over other abolitionists in the direction of their cause. He published widely, including his autobiography, which I use in the modern day in my history classroom.
He also became a gifted politician, serving as United States Senator from Massachusetts. He possessed an indomitable spirit, having risen from slave to Senator. He refused for his entire life to believe that he was anything less than an equal human being, despite his own enslavement. His advice to younger African-Americans towards the end of his life was to "Agitate, agitate, agitate".
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