Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass was the most famous and influential African American known of his era. He was an abolitionist, public speaker, journalist, publisher, human rights and women's rights activist, author and social reformer. He rose with determination, wisdom and eloquence to shape the American nation. Frederick Douglas dedicated his life to achieving justice for all Americans and envisioned America as a broad-based nation, strengthened by diversity and free from discrimination. Douglass had a vision of living in a world where race and color should not matter, in a century where this was unrealistic. We need to go back into the past of Douglas' life and learn about his great accomplishments and how he shaped America today. "Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey" was born in 1818 in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the son of a slave and an unknown white man (probably a white slave owner). He entered slavery from birth. Unaware of his actual birth date, like most other slaves of the time, Douglass was forced to face the dismay of being a slave from the beginning of his life. Separated from his mother when he was only a few weeks old, he spent his early years with his grandparents and an aunt, seeing his mother only four or five times before her death when he was seven. During this time he was exposed to the terrible conditions of slavery, observing merciless whippings and spending much time cold and hungry. Not having been informed by her grandmother that she was leaving him, at the age of six she took him to her master's plantation and left him there. Douglass never recovered from the betrayal of leaving. ("Frederick Douglass")When he was about eight years old he was sent to Baltimore to live as a home... middle of paper......is the first speech at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society convention on Nantucket. While on a lecture tour of the Midwest in 1843, Douglass was beaten by an angry mob before being rescued by a local Quaker family. But the opinions of Garrison and Douglass ultimately diverged. Garrison denounced churches, political parties and even voting. He believed in the disintegration of the Union. He also believed that the United States Constitution was pro-slavery. After his tour of Europe, Douglas's views began to change; he was becoming more and more of an independent thinker. In 1851 Douglass announced at a meeting in Syracuse, New York, that he did not believe the Constitution was a pro-slavery document. Douglass also did not support dissolving the Union, as it would isolate slaves in the South. This led to a disagreement between Garrison and Douglass. ("Frederick Douglas”)