CHAPTER XVI

FINAL HONORS TO THE LIVING AND TRIBUTES TO THE DEAD

The last public office held by Frederick Douglass was that of Commissioner for the Haytian Republic at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, in the summer of 1893. The government of Hayti erected an artistic pavilion on the Fair grounds, and here from May 1st to November 1st, he was stationed, dispensing the hospitalities demanded by his position and the occasion.

Interesting as was the Haytian display, it did not attract as much public attention as did the Commissioner. No person or exhibit at the Exposition so illustrated and exemplified human progress as did Frederick Douglass. In him it was personified. Everywhere his presence excited interest and admiration. In his movements through the grounds he was ever a striking figure. His form, towering far above the average man, and his snow-white hair, hanging in waves about his massive head, commanded instant attention. People, young and old, crowded about him, wherever he went. But not all were curiosity seekers. Thousands knew Mr. Douglass personally, had heard him speak, or were familiar with his history. Parents brought their children, that they might shake hands with him. He was sometimes quite embarrassed by these manifestations of admiration and interest.

The Exposition officials appreciated the importance of the man, as well as his position as the Haytian Commissioner. No honors were unshared by him on account of his race. Whenever the representative men of the civilized governments met in administrative councils, Frederick Douglass was an honored guest and participant. His old-time eloquence was aroused on many interesting occasions, and especially when the cause of the Negro needed a champion. An official of the Exposition was reported as saying that Frederick Douglass, more than any other orator there, voiced the sentiment of the brotherhood of man. While various representatives would extol the people of this or that government or nationality, this self-made and self-educated man of a belated race, was always insisting that the man himself, as God made him, was greater than any geographical or national label could possibly render him.

He was constantly sought for addresses on all kinds of occasions, and he generously responded, whether the call came from some obscure religious organization, literary society, or one of the great international parliaments, convened in connection with the Exposition.

There were two very notable addresses by him in the summer of 1893, that almost excel the best of his many great speeches. One of these was made on what was known as “Negro Day” at the Exposition in the month of August. The vast auditorium in Music Hall was filled by an audience that was more thoroughly international in the variety of races represented, than any other gathering assembled during the progress of the Fair. In voice, gesture, and spirit, he seemed like some great prophet, bearing a message to the civilized world. No one who listened to this masterful plea for justice for the Negro race, can ever forget the inspiration of that hour.

The other speech was delivered before one of the parliaments on the subject of “good government.” There were present students of civil government, sociologists, judges of courts, representatives of the woman’s suffrage movement, like Susan B. Anthony, and others. Some striking addresses followed Douglass’s, but he had left the audience completely under his spell.

With the closing of the Exposition in the autumn of 1893, ended the last

## chapter in his life as a public official. As office-holding, however,

was by no means the most important part of his career, it did not require an office to keep him in view of the people. His prominence outlasted that of many of his contemporaries who were more favored than he in the matter of public service. He remained, up to the very last hour of his life, one of the few men of the nation of whom it never tired. This was so, largely because he was more a part of the present than of the past. Though he compassed in his life over a half-century of national history, he never got out of touch with current events, retaining to the end his influence on public opinion in all those matters in which he was peculiarly interested, and in regard to which his views had special authority.

When he closed his official business with the World’s Fair, he yielded to a strong pressure from the people of the West for a limited course of lectures. The one thing which induced him to undertake this arduous task, after the months of exhausting duties at the Exposition, was the opportunity it would offer him to speak his word of protest and condemnation of the crime of lynching. Nothing in his long life of anxiety and struggle for his race so depressed him as did this new manifestation of contempt for his people. His first itinerary included Des Moines, Omaha, and other cities. He was cordially received everywhere and his denunciation of mob law made a deep impression. These addresses were in the nature of his last message and warning to the American people against the unchecked lawlessness that spent itself on those who were not strong enough to protect themselves.

He returned to his restful and delightful home in Washington with some apparent fatigue, but no permanent harm in consequence of his long journey.

The last two years of his life seem to have been more free from care and

## active duties than any previous period. He merited a rest and he had

everything about him to contribute to his ease and enjoyment. Among the trees and flowers of his ample grounds on Cedar Hill, and surrounded by his books and the comforts of his classic home, life went on serenely and happily.

One of the interesting sights here was the procession of people of all kinds making pilgrimages every day to the home of “the Sage of Anacostia,”[6] as he was fondly called by his friends and neighbors. Thousands of colored persons visited him to pay their respects to the man whose life had been consecrated to the cause of their emancipation and citizenship. To all he was kindly and considerate. His mind was as alert and keen as ever, and thoroughly alive to passing events. He had a special fondness for the young men of his race, and particularly those who were educated and progressive. It was always an inspiration to him to see the numbers of young colored men, who were fitting themselves by study and application to pass civil service examinations, and gain for themselves positions of importance in all departments of the government. He frequently invited them to his home to dine with him, and would discuss with them the possibilities for their advancement in all lines of endeavor. He was always hopeful regarding the progress of these young men in business and in the professions.

Footnote 6:

Anacostia is a suburb of Washington, and was Frederick Douglass’s home so long as he lived in the District of Columbia.

He was generous, almost to a fault, with his time, money, and services in behalf of any cause that meant a step forward for his people. His health was uniformly good. Every day he was either riding or walking about the streets of Washington, or in conference with those who needed his advice and assistance in all kinds of helpful enterprises. He had a

## part in every civic event of any importance in the District of Columbia.

No one colored man before or since his death has wielded so much influence in all directions. He had not only won the esteem of the people of Washington, but he knew how to deserve and retain it. In the District government, in the public schools, and at Howard University, his influence was felt and respected.

What he himself was, he had gained by hard work, consecration, temperate habits, and God-fearing conduct toward all his fellows. His life and achievements spoke eloquently to the young men about him and pointed the way to progress. Mr. Douglass had richly earned everything that he had, and those who took him as a model were made to realize that success comes not as a gift, but must be deserved and won as a reward for right thinking and high living. Poor as were his people in all things, Frederick Douglass found enough to be proud of in them and urged continuously upon the younger generation the necessity of cultivating a spirit of race pride,—of setting before themselves and the race of which they were members clear and definite ideals.

In nothing else was the life of Mr. Douglass so important as in the uplifting influence he exerted, directly and indirectly, upon the young men of his time. There were many good leaders worthy of emulation, but none who exercised the authority that he did over the opinions of the other members of his race. His life was an open book. Naturally there were those of his color who envied him; who sought to discredit his worth and work; who felt that so long as he lived and spoke, none other could be known or heard. The young men of force and intelligence, however, who had it in them to do something large and important looked up to and were inspired by the “old man eloquent” of the Negro race.

It is easily possible to extend observations of this kind concerning the personality and influence of this great man during those restful years when he was happily free from care and public responsibilities. How little he thought of death! Sound of body and sane of mind, and always thinking and planning for what should come after, he lived as if there was no claim upon his future existence which he could not adjust. When death did come on the second day of February, 1895, it found him with no preparation, in the ordinary sense, for its message. And yet it had always been his expressed wish that he should go as he did—“to fall as the leaf in the autumn of life.”

On that day he had been attending the Council of Women which was meeting in Metzerott’s Hall in the city of Washington, and was much interested in the proceedings. He was an honorary member of that body. They were in quest of larger liberties for themselves, as he so long had been for himself and his people. When Frederick Douglass appeared at the convention in the morning, he was greeted with applause and escorted to the platform by a committee. He remained there nearly the entire day. When he returned to his home on Cedar Hill for dinner, he was in the best of spirits, and with a great deal of animation and pleasure, discussed with Mrs. Douglass the incidents of the meeting.

After the meal he prepared himself to deliver an address in a colored Baptist church near by. His carriage was at the door. While passing through the hall from the dining-room, he seemed to drop slowly upon his knees, but in such a way that the movement did not excite any alarm in his wife. His face wore a look of surprise as he exclaimed, “Why, what does this mean?” Then, straightening his body upon the floor, he was gone. The men who responded to Mrs. Douglass’s agonized cries for help, came hurriedly with physicians, but it was too late. Douglass was dead—without pain, without warning, without fear, and at a time when life was sweet, full, and complete. His last moment of enthusiasm, like his first hours of aspiration when a slave-child, was for liberty; if not for himself, then for some one else.

The announcement that Frederick Douglass was dead came like a shock to every one, especially to those who had seen him about the city during the day, full of animation and apparent physical vigor. The sad news spread rapidly and produced a profound sense of bereavement among all classes of people.

The scene at the Women’s Council, where he had been during the day an honored guest, was an affecting one. The president, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, in attempting to voice the sentiment of the members, said:

“A report, as unwelcome as sad and solemn, has come to us of the sudden and most unexpected death of Frederick Douglass. The news cannot be received in silence by the Council. That historic figure which individually and intellectually was the symbol of the wonderful transition through which this generation has lived has been with us in our Council during both of our sessions to-day. When he arrived, an escort was directed to conduct him to the platform. We felt that this platform was honored by his presence. I am sure there was no divided sentiment on this subject, although we have here women whose families are related to all political parties of our country, and connected by ancestry with both sides of the great question. It is surely to be regarded as a historic coincidence that this man, who embodied a century of struggle between freedom and oppression, spent his last hours a witness of the united efforts of those who have come from so many different places and along such various avenues to formulate some plan for a new expression of freedom in the relation of woman to the world, society, and the state.”

The mortuary arrangements at Washington were on the scale and of the dignity of a state funeral. Throngs of people lined the streets through which the _cortège_ passed to the Metropolitan Church where the ceremonies were held. Delegations of prominent colored men and women, from almost every part of the Union, came to pay their last respects to the dead statesman.

Within the spacious church, the scene was such as perhaps had never before been witnessed in this country. All colors and nationalities were present, moved by a common sorrow. Men like Senators Hoar and Sherman; members of the Supreme Court like Justice Harlan; members of the House of Representatives, officials of the District of Columbia, members of the National Council of Women, the faculty of Howard University, several Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and other distinguished men and women were present and gave to the sad occasion the character of a national bereavement.

Floral tributes in profusion were sent by organizations of all kinds as well as by individuals. There were two that had special significance; the one sent by the Haytian government, and the other by Colonel B. F. Auld of Baltimore, the son of Frederick Douglass’s former owner. Fervent words of appreciation were spoken by Dr. J. T. Jenifer, pastor of the Metropolitan Church, Rev. F. J. Grimké, Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, John S. Durham, Bishop W. B. Derrick, and M. J. N. Nichols, representing Hayti. The city of Washington, where Mr. Douglass lived so long and was so much esteemed, paid every possible tribute of respect to his memory in these impressive ceremonies.

While the fallen Douglass was thus being honored at the national capital, the city of Rochester was sorrow-stricken at the loss of its “foremost citizen” and at once set about making “suitable arrangements to give his remains according to the desire he so often expressed,—a resting-place in beautiful Mount Hope, the city of the dead.” Rochester always claimed Frederick Douglass as her son by right of adoption, and that at a time when many other Northern cities would not have tolerated his presence. By order of the mayor, a special meeting of the city council was convened “for the purpose of taking such action as might be necessary and appropriate in connection with the funeral of Hon. Frederick Douglass, for many years a respected and beloved citizen of this city.”

At the meeting thus called, a memorial, couched in terms at once touching and flattering, was read and spread upon the records. The council also passed a resolution that the members attend the funeral in a body, and it was arranged that the remains should lie in state in the city hall, and that on the day of the funeral the public schools be closed, so as to give the pupils an opportunity to view the face of a man whose life and character were worthy of their remembrance and emulation.

Thus all the proceedings partook of a civic nature and were impressive beyond anything ever witnessed in honor of a Negro citizen. The services in Rochester were held in the Central Presbyterian Church. The Douglass League acted as a guard of honor in conducting the remains to the city hall and to the church. Rev. W. C. Gannett, of the Unitarian Church, delivered the funeral oration. No other in the United States was better qualified by natural disposition and breadth of mind to give adequate estimate of Douglass as a man. The portion of the address here quoted will afford some notion of the character of the eulogies uttered in all parts of this country and in England in recognition of the worth of Frederick Douglass and his work. Mr. Gannett said in part:

“This is an impressive moment in our city history. There was a man who lived in one of its humbler homes, whose name barred him from the doors of the wealthiest mansions of our city. This man has come home to a little circle of his best beloved ones. He has come, as it were, alone, and our city has gone forth to meet him at its gates. He has been welcomed for once in the most impressive way. His remains have laid in our city hall. Our school children have looked upon his face, that they may in the future tell their children that they have looked on the face of Frederick Douglass. What a difference! What a contrast! What does it all mean? It means two things. It is a personal tribute and it is an impersonal tribute. It is a personal tribute to the man who has exemplified before the eyes of all America the inspiring example of a man who made himself. America is the land of opportunities. But not all men in this land can use their opportunities. Here was a man who used to the uttermost all the opportunities that America held forth to him, and when opportunities were not at hand he made them. Nature gave him birth, nature deprived him of father and almost mother. He was born seventy-eight years ago, forty years before anti-slavery was heard of as a watchword.

“He is not simply a self-made man, although he was one of the greatest. A man self-made but large-hearted. Who ever had better opportunity to be a greater-hearted man than Frederick Douglass? Think of the results for which he labored almost to the end of his life. Notwithstanding that the lash had been lifted from his back, still he encountered shrugs of the shoulders, lifting of the eyebrows, and an edging away of his fellow-men when he approached them, always under that opportunity of insult.

“But that was not all. It is not a simple tribute to the man. The personal tribute rises and loses itself in a grander and nobler thought. It becomes transfigured into an impersonal thought. We are in an era of change on a great subject. White people are here honoring a black people. An exception? Yes. Great men are always exceptions. An exception? Yes, but an instance as well, an example of how the world’s feeling is changing. I like to think over our 140,000 people of Rochester and pick out the two or three who will be called our first citizens twenty or thirty years hence. Very few in Rochester are famous through the North, very few are famous throughout the world. Yet the papers of two continents had editorials about the man whose remains lie before us. We have but one bronze monument in our streets. Will the next be that of Frederick Douglass, the black man, the ex-slave, the renowned orator, the distinguished American citizen? I think it will be. In and around our soldiers’ monument we group the history of the war. It is not only the monument of Lincoln, although Lincoln’s figure is represented there. It is the monument of the war.

“The nation to-day, thank God, is not only celebrating the emancipation of slavery, but also its emancipation from the slavery of prejudice and from the slavery of caste and color.

“Let me end with one word. There are but six words in the sentence, and it is one of the great sentences worthy to be painted on the church walls and worthy to be included in such a book as the Bible. It is his word. It is: ‘One with God is a majority.’”

The vast audience that listened to these words of praise sadly followed Douglass’s remains to their resting-place in Mount Hope Cemetery, beside the graves of his little daughter Anna, and his beloved wife, the mother of his children. Few great citizens of the state of New York were ever more signally honored than was he in these last funeral rites by the citizens of Rochester. And this was not all. The suggestion of a monument by Mr. Gannett in his funeral address found quick and hearty response from the people of the city in an effort led by John W. Thompson without regard to race or color. Not only in that place, but throughout the country, the idea of erecting a bronze statue of Douglass, at his home, was taken up and acted upon. Generous contributions began to pour in from every direction. The great state of New York, that had honored him in so many ways during his lifetime, appropriated out of the public treasury, the sum of $3,000 for this purpose.

The whole amount was soon raised. The ceremonies attending the unveiling of the monument partook of the character of a state event. Special excursions brought multitudes of people from all parts of New York. The Governor, Theodore Roosevelt, and many other state officials, were in attendance. His address, so impressively delivered, was the climax of the splendid ceremonies. His tribute to the great Negro was inspired by a sympathetic appreciation of the man and a profound sense of the significance of his life. He reminded the vast concourse of people that the lesson taught by the colored statesman was “the lesson of truth, of honesty, of fearless courage, of striving for the right; the lesson of distinguished and fearless performance of civic duty.” The bronze figure of the great Negro stands in a conspicuous site in the heart of Rochester, and is as much a monument to the generous spirit of its citizens, as to the worth and achievements of him whose career it commemorates.

Douglass lived long enough to see the triumph of the cause for which he had dreamed, hoped, and labored. But he had lived long enough, also, to realize that what slavery had been two hundred years and more in doing could not be wholly undone in thirty or forty years; could, in fact, hardly be wholly undone since the Future is always built out of the materials of the Past.

In his later years he came to understand that the problem, on the work of solving which he and others had entered with such high hopes in the Reconstruction period, was larger and more complicated than it at that time seemed. If the realization of this fact was a disappointment to him, it did not cause him to lose courage. His faith in the future remained unshaken. He was sane and sanguine to the end. Least of all did he allow himself to feel aggrieved or become embittered by any personal inconvenience that he encountered because of the color of his skin. At the conclusion of his Autobiography he says:

“It may possibly be inferred from what I have said of the prevalence of prejudice, and the practice of proscription, that I have had a very miserable sort of life, or that I must be remarkably insensible to public aversion. Neither inference is true. I have neither been miserable because of the ill-feeling of those about me, nor indifferent to popular approval; and I think, upon the whole, I have passed a tolerably cheerful and even joyful life. I have never felt myself isolated since I entered the field to plead the cause of the slave, and demand equal rights for all. In every town and city where it has been my lot to speak, there have been raised up for me friends of both colors to cheer and strengthen me in my work. I have always felt, too, that I had on my side all the invisible forces of the moral government of the universe.”

Frederick Douglass’s life fell in the period of war, of controversy, and of fierce party strife. The task which was assigned to him was, on the whole, one of destruction and liberation, rather than construction and reconciliation. Circumstances and his own temperament made him the aggressive champion of his people, and of all others to whom custom or law denied the privileges which he had learned to regard as the inalienable possessions of men. He was for liberty, at all times, and in all shapes. Seeking the ballot for the Negro, he was ardently in favor of granting the same privilege to woman. Holding, as he did, that there were certain rights and dignities that belong to man as man, he was opposed to discrimination in our immigration laws in favor of the white races of Europe and against the yellow races of Asia. In religion, also, he was disposed to unite himself with the extreme liberal movement. In all this he was at once an American, and a man of his time.

But Mr. Douglass was not merely an American, sharing the convictions and aspirations of the most progressive men of his day. He was also a Negro, and the lesson of his life is addressed in the most particular way to the members of his own race: “To those who have suffered in slavery, I can say, I, too, have suffered. To those who have taken some risks and encountered hardships in the flight from bondage, I can say, I, too, have endured and risked. To those who have battled for liberty, brotherhood, and citizenship, I can say, I, too, have battled. And to those who have lived to enjoy the fruits of liberty I can say, I, too, live and rejoice. If I have pushed my example too far, I beg them to remember that I have written in part for the encouragement of a class whose aspirations need the stimulus of success.”

And then he ends: “I have aimed to assure them that knowledge may be obtained under difficulties; that poverty may give place to competency; that obscurity is not an absolute bar to distinction; and that a way is open to welfare and happiness to all who will resolutely and wisely pursue that way; that neither slavery, stripes, imprisonment, nor proscription need extinguish self-respect, crush manly ambition, or paralyze effort; that no power outside of himself can prevent a man from sustaining an honorable character and a useful relation to his day and generation; that neither institutions nor friends can make a race to stand unless it has strength in its own legs; that there is no power in the world which can be relied on to help the weak against the strong, or the simple against the wise; that races, like individuals, must stand or fall by their own merits.”

As has been already indicated in the course of this narrative, Frederick Douglass never formulated any definite religious creed. But no one who reads the story of his life and work can doubt that he was guided and inspired through his whole career by the highest moral and religious motives. The evidence of this is not merely his steadfast optimism and faith in the future, but in the sense in which he regarded his personal mission. From his own point of view, the work he did for his race was not merely a duty, it was a high privilege:

“Forty years of my life have been given to the cause of my people, and if I had forty years more they should all be sacredly given to the same great cause. If I have done something for that cause, I am, after all, more a debtor to it than it is a debtor to me.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DOUGLASS, FREDERICK. Narrative of Frederick Douglass, 1845.

—— My Bondage and My Freedom, 1855.

—— My Escape from Slavery. _Century Magazine_, November, 1881.

—— Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, 1882.

HOLLAND, FREDERICK MAY. Frederick Douglass, the Colored Orator, 1891.

GARRISON, WILLIAM LLOYD. Frederick Douglass as Orator and Reformer, _Our Day_, August, 1894.

MAY, SAMUEL J. Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict, 1869.

JOHNSON, OLIVER. William Lloyd Garrison and His Times, 1881.

AUSTIN, GEORGE LOWELL. The Life and Times of Wendell Phillips, 1899.

LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. By his children, 1889.

SIEBERT, WILLIAM H. The Underground Railroad, 1898.

REPORTS of the Anti-Slavery Society.

GOODELL, W. Slavery and Anti-Slavery, A History of the Struggle in Both Hemispheres; with a View of the Slavery Question in the United States, third edition, 1855.

STILL, WILLIAM. The Underground Railroad, 1872.

—— Underground Railway Records, New and revised edition with life of author, 1883.

GREELEY, HORACE. The American Conflict: Its Causes, Incidents, and Results, 1864–6.

WILSON, JOSEPH T. The Black Phalanx; a History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775, 1812, and 1861–1865; 1888.

NICOLAY, JOHN G. AND HAY, JOHN. Abraham Lincoln; a History, 1890.

RHODES, JAMES FORD. History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850, 1893.

WILLIAMS, G. W. Negro Troops in the Rebellion, 1888.

INDEX

Abolition circulars, held up by Southern postmasters, 88.

Abolition, sweet singers of, 100.

Abolitionists, resent attitude of government to slavery, 219.

“Anacostia, the Sage of,” 338.

Andrew, John A., Governor of Massachusetts, enlists Negro regiments, 222.

Anthony, Asa, friend of Douglass, 138.

Anthony, H. B., favors policy of conciliation toward South, 213.

Anthony, Lucretia, 19; her kindness to Douglass, 23.

Anthony, Susan B., address at Douglass’s funeral, 343.

Anti-Slavery conventions, 70, 78, 96.

Anti-Slavery societies; Massachusetts Society employs Douglass as agent, 72; New England society organized, 96; New York society organized, 96; National society formed, 96; British and Foreign, presents Douglass with Bible, 102.

_Anti-Slavery Standard, The_, anti-slavery newspaper, 124.

Antoine, C. C., Lieutenant-Governor of Louisiana, 279.

“Aunt Katy,” cruelty of, 19.

Auld, Colonel B. F., sends floral tribute, Douglass’s funeral, 343.

Auld, Hugh, apprentices Douglass to a ship-calker, 51; sells Douglass his own time, 55; sells Douglass into freedom, 113.

Auld, Mrs. Sophia, teaches Douglass to read, 24.

Auld, Thomas, 35; his fondness for Douglass, 49; sells Douglass, 113.

Bailey, Frederick Augustus Washington, 16.

Bailey, “Grandmother,” character and influence of, 17.

Barrier, Anthony, agent for the Underground Railway, 161.

Bearman, Amos G., assists Douglass at Buffalo anti-slavery meeting, 80.

Bible societies, effect upon anti-slavery agitation, 91.

Birney, James G., Abolitionist, printing press destroyed by mob at Cincinnati, 89.

Blackall, B. F., Douglass’s telegram to, 192.

“Black Laws,” in Illinois, 142.

Bliss, William C., friend of Douglass, 138.

Breckinridge, John C., leader Southern Wing of the Democracy, 201.

Bright, John, Douglass guest of, 115.

Brougham, Lord, Douglass meets, 101.

Brown, Box, fugitive slave, 163.

Brown, John, 182; at Chambersburg, 189; effect of execution on anti-slavery movement, 197.

Brown, John M., representative Negro, one of delegation to President Johnson, 260.

Brown, William Wells, at Boston celebration Emancipation Proclamation, 239.

Browne, Hugh M., head of “Institute for Colored Youth,” 152.

Bruce, Blanche K., United States Senator from Mississippi, 279.

Buffum, James N., accompanies Douglass to England, 100; in Scotland, 104.

Bullock, Judge, favors colonization, 146.

Burns, Anthony, fugitive slave, 169.

Burnside, General A. E., issues proclamation to Southern people, 218.

Butler, General Benjamin F., declares fugitive slaves “contraband,” 222; at National Loyalists’ Convention, 268.

Canada, end of the Underground Railway, 160.

Carey, Mary Ann Shadd, Negro educator, 153.

Cedar Hill, Douglass’s home, 337.

Chambersburg, Pa., place of last meeting of Douglass and John Brown, 189.

Chase, Salmon P., contributes to support of _North Star_, 125; encourages Douglass to visit President Lincoln, 228.

Christiana, Pa., bloody resistance of slave-catchers at, 171.

Churches, colored, 149.

Civil War, causes of, 217.

Clark, Peter H., efforts to establish ante-bellum Negro education, 151.

Clarkson, Thomas, Douglass’s meeting with, 102.

Clay, Henry, member of the Colonization Society, 146; favors Fugitive Slave Law, 166.

Cobden, Richard, Douglass meets, 101.

Collins, John A., general agent of Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 72; associated with Douglass in the “one hundred anti-slavery conventions,” 79.

Colonization Society, American, objects of, 145.

Combe, George, Douglass entertained by, 102.

Constitution of the United States, a “pro-slavery instrument,” 127.

Cook, John F., efforts to establish ante-bellum Negro education, 151; representative Negro, one of delegation to President Johnson, 260.

Coppin, Fannie Jackson, efforts for ante-bellum Negro education, 151.

Coppin, Thomas, efforts for ante-bellum Negro education, 151.

Covey, Edward, the “negro breaker,” 38.

Cox, A. L., delegate National Anti-Slavery Society, 96.

Crafts, William, fugitive slave, 163.

Crandall, Prudence, Abolitionist, imprisoned for teaching colored children, 88, 141.

Crandall, Doctor Reuben, Abolitionist, imprisoned for circulating Anti-slavery literature, 88.

Crofts, Mrs. Julia Griffith, takes business management of _North Star_, 125.

Dallas, George M., Minister to England, refuses Douglass passport, 194.

Dana, Charles A., Assistant Secretary of War, encourages Douglass to visit President Lincoln, 228.

Davis, Alexander, Lieutenant-Governor of Mississippi, 279.

Davis, Richard A., aids in rescue of Anthony Burns, fugitive slave, 169.

Day, J. Howard, colored anti-slavery orator, 155.

Delaney, Martin R., colored anti-slavery orator, 155.

Derrick, Bishop W. B., address at Douglass’s funeral, 343.

Dickinson, Anna, at Boston celebration of Emancipation Proclamation, 239.

Discrimination against Negroes at public lectures done away with, 66.

Disraeli, Benjamin, Douglass meets, 101.

Dix, General John A., proclamation to Southern people, 218.

Dorr, Thomas W., leader of pro-slavery forces in Rhode Island contest over new constitution, 76.

Dorsey, Thomas L., agent for the Underground Railway, 161.

Douglass, Charles R., son of Frederick, enlists in army, 223.

Douglass, Frederick, born at Tuckahoe, 15; transferred to the Lloyd plantation, 19; starved by “Aunt Katy,” 20; sees his mother for the last time, 20; sees a slave killed by an overseer, 23; goes to Baltimore to live, 24; is taught to read, 24; gains possession of a speller, 26; buys a copy of the _Columbian Orator_, 26; learns to write, 27; thoughts turned to religion, 28; sent back to the plantation, 31; justifies pilfering by slaves, 34; Sunday-school broken up, 36; sent to a negro breaker, 37; starts a second Sunday-school, 42; plans to escape, 44; plot discovered, 48; sent back to Baltimore, 50; apprenticed as a shipcalker, 51; buys his own time, 56; makes his escape from Baltimore, 58; marries in New York, 62; seeks refuge in New Bedford, Mass., 63; changes his name, 63; denied opportunity to work at his trade, 65; attends anti-slavery convention at Nantucket, 70; invited to become a speaker for the anti-slavery cause, 72; takes part in political contest in Rhode Island, 76; speaks on the common at Grafton, Mass., 78; takes part in the “one hundred anti-slavery conventions,” 78; addresses 5,000 people at Buffalo, N. Y., 80; is mobbed at Richmond, Ind., 81; publishes “Narrative,” 99; sails for Europe, 100; is refused cabin passage on the steamer _Cambria_, 100; meets Thomas Clarkson, English Abolitionist, 102; makes a tour through Ireland, 102; presented with a Bible by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 102; takes part in the anti-slavery agitation in Scotland, 103; addresses the World’s Temperance Convention at Covent Garden, 106; speaks at the Peace Convention in London, 110; freedom purchased, 112; receives a gift of $2,500 to found an anti-slavery journal, 114; returns from England to America, 116; attacked by newspapers, 117; presides at colored convention in Cleveland, 118; reasons for founding an independent newspaper, 120; removes to Rochester, N. Y., 124; publishes the _North Star_, 125; parts company with the Garrisonians, 128; grounds for change of views, 129; tribute to the anti-slavery society, 132; personal relations with Garrison, 133; speaks in behalf of the rights of women, 136; difficulties in securing an education for children, 138; connection with the Underground Railway, 158, 161; describes effects of the Fugitive Slave Law, 168; shelters fugitive slaves from Christiana, Pa., 172; reflections upon the Dred Scott Decision, 173; meeting with Harriet Beecher Stowe, 176; outlines plan for an industrial school for Free Negroes, 178; visits John Brown at Springfield, Mass., 183; visits John Brown at Chambersburg, 189; opposes John Brown’s plan for capture of Harper’s Ferry, 191; flees to Canada, 192; takes passage for England, 193; recalled to America by death of daughter, 194; on the effect of John Brown’s death, 197; supports Lincoln against Douglas, 203; address in Chicago in 1854, 204; welcomes the impending conflict, 216; urges the enlistment of Negro soldiers, 220; assists in organization of Negro regiments, 222; issues an appeal to the colored people, 224; first interview with President Lincoln, 229; promised position of adjutant, 232; Lincoln seeks aid to encourage escape of slaves from Southern states, 236; invited to take tea with the President, 238; description of reception of Emancipation Proclamation in Boston, 239; attends President’s reception, 240; speaks at Rochester on Lincoln’s assassination, 243; opposes dissolution of Anti-Slavery Society, 245; becomes Lyceum lecturer, 256; favors citizenship for Negro, 258; interviews President Johnson, 260; replies to President’s arguments against Negro suffrage, 261; writes address to Senate, 264; elected delegate to National Loyalists’ Convention, 265; removes to Washington, D. C., 273; publishes _The New National Era_, 274; becomes President of Freedman’s Bank, 276; councilman of District of Columbia, 283; member of legislature of District of Columbia, 283; member of the San Domingan annexation commission, 283; addresses colored convention at New Orleans, 284; marshal of District of Columbia, 1877, 287; Baltimore address on “Our National Capital,” 288; Recorder of Deeds, District of Columbia, 294; Minister to Hayti, 297; manners and personal character, 303; marries Miss Helen Pitts, 306; Decoration Day address at Arlington, 309; address at Washington, D. C., on Lincoln, 311; address before Tennessee Colored Agricultural and Mechanical Association at Nashville, 312; speech on Supreme Court Decision on Civil Rights Bill, 316; opposes Chinese exclusion, 320; views on religion, 321; opposes the Kansas exodus, 323; visits Thomas Auld, 327; visits the Lloyd estate, 329; address on John Brown at Harper’s Ferry, 330; address at Tuskegee, 1892, 333; aids in foundation of Industrial School at Manassas, Va., 333; Haytian Commissioner at World’s Fair, 1893, 334; address on Negro Day, World’s Fair, 335; protests against lynching, 337; death, 1895, 340; funeral services, 342; memorial services at Rochester, 344.

Douglass, H. Ford, colored anti-slavery orator, 155.

Douglass, Lewis H., son of Frederick, enlists in army, 223; visits President Andrew Johnson, 260.

Douglas, Stephen A., policy in Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 198; debate with Lincoln, 199; position of, defined, 202.

Downing, George T., visits President Johnson, 260.

Downing, Thomas, agent for Underground Railway, 161.

Dred Scott Decision, influence on anti-slavery agitation, 173, 195.

Dunlop, Alexander, representative Negro, one of delegation to visit President Johnson, 261.

Dunn, Oscar J., Lieutenant-Governor of Louisiana, 279.

Durham, John S., address at Douglass’s funeral, 343.

Education, Negro, early efforts of, 151.

Elliott, Robert Brown, Negro member of Congress, 280.

Ellis, Charles M., aids in rescue of Anthony Burns, fugitive slave, 169.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, uses influence to open public lectures to Negroes, 66.

Everett, Edward, Governor of Massachusetts, favors law to prevent printing of Abolition literature, 87.

Fish, Benjamin, friend of Douglass, 138.

Fortin, Charlotte L., Negro educator, 153.

Foster, George, anti-slavery speaker, 73; associated with Douglass in the “one hundred anti-slavery conventions,” 79.

Foster, Stephen S., takes part in the Rhode Island contest over new constitution, 76.

“Free Church,” of Scotland, anti-slavery agitation in, 104.

Freeland, William, hires Douglass, 41.

Free Soil Democrats, rally to support the Union, 215.

Fugitive Slave Law, 166; arouses resentment in North, 168.

Ganes, John F., efforts to establish ante-bellum Negro education, 151.

Gannett, Rev. W. C., delivers Douglass’s funeral oration, 344.

Garnett, Henry Highland, assists Douglass at Buffalo anti-slavery meeting, 80; agent for the Underground Railway, 161.

Garrison, William Lloyd, address at anti-slavery convention at Nantucket, 71; assaulted in Baltimore, 88; delegate National Anti-Slavery Society, 96; in Scotland, 103; attacked by papers in Cleveland, 118; opposes Douglass’s anti-slavery paper, 121; conception of slavery, 122; and the slave-holder, 128; relation to Douglass, 132; comment on Shadrach case, 170.

Gay, Sidney Howard, takes part in the “one hundred anti-slavery conventions,” 79.

Gibbs, Mifflin W., colored anti-slavery orator, 155.

Giddings, Joshua R., contributes to support of _North Star_, 125; favors policy of conciliation to South, 213.

Gleaves, Robert H., Lieutenant-Governor of South Carolina, 279.

Goodell, William, delegate National Anti-Slavery Society, 96.

Gray, John A., friend of Douglass, 138.

Greeley, Horace, letter to President Lincoln, 219; protests against treatment of Negro soldiers, 227.

Green, Beriah, delegate National Anti-Slavery Society, 96.

Grimké, Rev. F. J., address at Douglass’s funeral, 343.

Hale, John P., criticised by Douglass, 134.

Hall, Primus, ante-bellum Negro teacher, 151.

Hallowell, William, friend of Douglass, 138.

Hardy, Mrs. Neal, binds Douglass’s wounds at Richmond, Indiana, 82.

Harlan, John Marshall, Associate Justice United States Supreme Court, attends Douglass’s funeral, 343.

Harper, Frances Ellen Watkins, Negro educator, 153.

Harper’s Ferry, John Brown’s preparations for assault upon, 189.

Hayti, at World’s Fair, Chicago, 334.

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, aids in rescue of Anthony Burns, fugitive slave, 169.

Hoar, Senator George Frisbie, at Douglass’s funeral, 343.

Holland, Frederick May, describes effect of Fugitive Slave Law, 167; “Life” of Douglass quoted, 204.

Holley, Myron, friend of Douglass, 138.

Howard, General O. O., head of Freedmen’s Bureau, 251.

Howard University, influence of Douglass at, 339.

Howitt, William, remarks concerning Douglass, 110.

Humphrey, Richard, bequeaths funds for Negro education, 152.

Hutchinson family, lends Douglass support on voyage to England, 100.

Improvement Society, East Baltimore, for free colored people, 52.

Industrial school, Douglass’s plan for, 178.

Jackson, President Andrew, proposes Congressional legislation to prevent circulation of Abolition literature through mails, 88; address to colored troops, 149.

Jenifer, Rev. J. T., sermon at Douglass’s funeral, 343.

Johnson, Andrew, President United States opposes Negro suffrage, 261.

Johnson, Nathan, gives Douglass a refuge, 63.

Jones, John, representative Negro, one of delegation to President Johnson, 260.

Kansas-Nebraska Bill, effect on anti-slavery sentiment, 173.

Kelley, Abby, takes part in contest in Rhode Island over new constitution, 76.

Lafayette, General, member of the Colonization Society, 146.

Langston, John M., colored anti-slavery orator, 155.

Lawson, “Uncle,” 29.

Lecture platform, effect upon anti-slavery agitation, 92.

_Liberator, The_, Garrison’s paper, 124, 128.

Lincoln, Abraham, debate with Douglass, 199.

Lloyd, Colonel Edward, vast estate of, 18.

Lloyd, Daniel, kindness to Douglass, 23.

Loguen, Rev. J. W., agent for the Underground Railway, 161.

Lovejoy, Rev. Elijah P., Abolitionist, killed at Alton, Ill., 89.

Lundy, Benjamin, Abolitionist, assaulted in Baltimore, 88; work for emancipation, 97.

Lynch, John R., member of Congress from Louisiana, 280.

Madison, James, member of the Colonization Society, 146.

Mann, Horace, uses influence to open public lectures to Negroes, 66; contributes to support of _North Star_, 125.

Marcy, William L., Governor of New York, favors law to suppress printing of Abolition literature, 87.

Marshall, John, Chief Justice, member of the Colonization Society, 146.

Martin, J. Sella, at Boston celebration Emancipation Proclamation, 239.

Matthews, William E., visits President Andrew Johnson, 260.

May, Samuel J., letter to Garrison concerning Douglass, 133.

McClellan, General George B., warns slaves not to seek protection with Northern armies, 217.

Metzerott’s Hall, Douglass’s address at, 340.

Missionary movement, effect upon anti-slavery agitation, 91.

Missouri Compromise, puts question of slavery before people, 93.

Mob, destroys printing press of _The Philanthropist_, 89; interrupts Rev. O. Scott’s lecture, 89; demolishes Academy for Negroes at Canaan, N. H., 89; disperses meeting of female anti-slavery society at Boston, 89; breaks up an anti-slavery meeting at Syracuse, 89; of Yale students, 89; burns Pennsylvania Hall, Philadelphia, 89; indulges in two days’ riot at Philadelphia, 90.

Monroe, James, takes part in Rhode Island contest over new constitution, 76; associated with Douglass in the “one hundred anti-slavery conventions,” 79.

Mott, Lucretia, connection with anti-slavery and woman’s suffrage, 136.

Myers, Stephen J., agent for the Underground Railway, 161.

“Narrative,” Frederick Douglass’s, 99.

Negroes, free, Douglass’s call to arms of, 223.

“Negro Pews,” at Hartford, Conn., 142.

Negro soldiers, at Port Royal, 221; at Fort Wagner, 222; proclamation of Confederate Government concerning, 227; Douglass’s remarks on treatment of, 228; number enlisted, 233.

Negro Volunteers, Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Regiments, 222.

Newspapers, colored, _Ram’s Horn_, _The Mystery_, _The Disfranchised American_, _The Northern Star_, _The Colored Farmer_, 124.

Nichols, M. J. N., address at Douglass’s funeral, 343.

_North Star_, Douglass’s anti-slavery paper, 125; Douglass’s early experiences with, 137.

O’Connell, Daniel, relation to Douglass, 102.

_Orator, Columbian_, Douglass’s first book, 26, 42.

Otis, Joseph E., representative Negro, one of delegation to President Johnson, 260.

Palfrey, John G., contributes to support of _The North Star_, 125.

Parker, Theodore, aids in rescue of Anthony Burns, fugitive slave, 169.

Peabody, Ephraim, gives Douglass his first job, 64.

Peace Convention, London, addressed by Douglass, 107.

Peel, Sir Robert, Douglass meets, 101.

Pennington, Rev. J. W. C., 62.

Peterson, John, efforts to establish ante-bellum Negro education, 151.

Phillips, Wendell, advises Douglass to throw his “Narrative” in the fire, 75; aids in rescue of Anthony Burns, fugitive slave, 169.

Pillsbury, Parker, takes part in Rhode Island contest over new constitution, 76.

Pinchback, P. B. S., Lieutenant-Governor of Louisiana, 279.

Pomeroy, S. C., United States Senator, introduces Douglass to President Lincoln, 228.

Port Royal, proclamation of T. W. Sherman at, 218.

Porter, Samuel D., friend of Douglass, 138.

Post, Isaac, friend of Douglass, 138.

Press, its effect upon anti-slavery agitation, 92.

Prichard, his _Natural History of Man_, 17.

“Prigg Case,” in regard to runaway slaves, 166.

“Protection, Sailor’s,” character of, 59.

Purvis, Robert, Vice-President of National Anti-Slavery Society, 155.

Quincy, Edmund, praises _The North Star_, 126.

Raid, John Brown, intensifies hatred of Negro, 195.

Railroads, regulations enforced against free colored people, 54.

Railway, Underground, 158; Western and Southwestern branches, 162.

_Ram’s Horn_, colored newspaper, 123.

Ransier, Alonzo J., Lieutenant-Governor of South Carolina, 279.

Ray, Charles M., assists Douglass at Buffalo anti-slavery meeting, 80.

Revels, Hiram, United States Senator from Mississippi, 279.

Remond, Charles Lennox, takes part in the “one hundred anti-slavery conventions,” 79; assists at Buffalo anti-slavery meetings, 80; agent for the Underground Railway, 161.

Rich, William, agent for the Underground Railway, 161.

Richardson, Mrs. Ellen, purchases Douglass’s freedom, 112.

Richardson, Mrs. Henry, purchases Douglass’s freedom, 112.

Ross, A. W., representative Negro, one of the delegation to President Johnson, 260.

Russell, Lord John, 101.

Russell, Thomas, at Boston celebration of Emancipation Proclamation, 239.

Schurz, Carl, report on Southern conditions, 248.

Scott, Rev. O., Abolitionist, prevented from delivering Abolitionist lecture at Worcester, Mass., 1835, 89.

Sewall, Mrs. May Wright, 341; address at Douglass’s funeral, 343.

Seward, William H., contributes to support of _North Star_, 125; favors policy of conciliation to South, 213; declaration defining issues of the war, 217.

Shadrach, fugitive slave, the case of, 171.

Shaw, Colonel Robert Gould, commands first Negro regiment, 222.

Sherman, General T. W. proclamation at Port Royal, 218.

Sherman, Senator, John, at Douglass’s funeral, 343.

Slavery and anti-slavery, issues defined, 94.

Smalls, Robert, Negro member of Congress, 280.

Smith, Gerrit, distinguished from Garrison, 122; contributes to support the _North Star_, 125; member of the Colonization Society, 146.

Smith, Doctor James McCune, colored anti-slavery orator, 155; agent for the Underground Railway, 161.

Stanton, Edwin M., Secretary of War, offers Douglass commission in army, 232.

Stearns, Major George L., writes to Douglass in behalf of Negro soldiers, 227.

St. Michaels, Douglass’s early home, 35.

Still, William, anti-slavery author, 155; agent for the Underground Railway, 161.

Story, Joseph, Justice Supreme Court, decision in the “Prigg Case,” 166.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 174.

Sumner, Charles, uses influence to open public lectures for Negroes, 66; contributes to support of _North Star_, 125.

Tappan, Arthur, 61; chosen President National Anti-Slavery Society, 96.

Tappan, Lewis, 61.

Temperance Convention, World’s, addressed by Douglass, 106.

Thompson, George, Abolitionist, in Scotland, 104.

Thompson, John W., plans erection of Douglass statue, 347.

Tilton, Theodore, marches with Douglass at National Loyalists’ Convention, 269.

Tracy Seminary, Douglass’s daughter compelled to leave, 138.

Tract Society, effect upon anti-slavery agitation, 91.

Tuskegee, Douglass visits, 333.

“Vigilance Committee,” of anti-slavery society, work of in Pennsylvania, 163.

Ward, Samuel R., colored anti-slavery orator, 155.

Webster, Daniel, remarks on growth of cotton industry, 84; member of the Colonization Society, 146; favors Fugitive Slave Law, 166.

Wells, Nelson, efforts to establish ante-bellum Negro education, 151.

Whipper, William, agent for the Underground Railway, 161; one of delegation to President Johnson, 260.

Whittier, John G., delegate National Anti-Slavery Society, 96.

Winthrop, Senator Robert C., at Faneuil Hall after fall of Richmond, 242.

Wise, Henry A., Governor of Virginia, letter to President Buchanan, 192.

Wright, Elizur, delegate National Anti-Slavery Society, 96.

Wright, Frances, connection with anti-slavery and woman’s suffrage, 136.

Wright, Theodore S., assists Douglass at Buffalo anti-slavery meeting, 80.

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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling. 2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. 4. Enclosed bold font in =equals=.