Even as a child, Frederick was a
thoughtful and serious person. Born a slave in Maryland in 1818, he was
fortunate at age nine to be sent to a household whose mistress started to teach
him to read alongside her own children. Her husband prohibited it; the deeply
held belief among slave owners was that slaves would read ideas that would make
them restless and insurgent. Frederick understood what was happening: “If
learning to read would make him unfit to be a slave, then that’s what Frederick
would do.” Though his growing ability to read and speak out brought him
difficulties, he continued to seek sources of information and experience.
Working for his owner in shipyards, he met free black men whose stories
inspired him to escape north disguised as a free black sailor. Making a home in the whaling city of New Bedford and taking the new last
name of Douglass, Frederick allied with abolitionists who supported his dream
of freedom for black people. Readers learn that
Douglass penned his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American
Slave at age twenty-eight, and played a key role in articulating the cause
of freedom even as the nation became more divided. Believing that the Civil War
was a gateway to abolition, he encouraged men of color to fight for the North,
which they did in significant numbers. In 1865 the Thirteenth Amendment,
prohibiting slavery, was passed. Douglass continued to speak out and work for
the rights of all Americans, including the rights of women, for thirty more
years. His legacy is immeasurable. Walter Dean Myers, award-winning author of
numerous books conveying African American history and experience, makes yet
another superb contribution with Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote
History, a picture book biography gracefully, effectively illustrated by
Floyd Cooper. Ages 5-10.
