The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass was born in 1818 in Tuckahoe in Talbot county Maryland. He was born into slavery, the son of Harriet Bailey and a white man who was assumed to be his master. As a young child, Frederick was brutally aware of many injustices that were plagued on the enslaved people he was a part of. Things such as deadly beatings, the separation of families, the harsh labor or working conditions and understanding that slaves should remain ignorant were all things that influenced many of his decisions as an adult. In 1837, at the age of nineteen Douglass escaped slavery and was propelled to help other slaves. Introduced to reading during slavery by one of his owner's wife. He decided to continue learning to help him to achieve his goal. He started to attend abolitionist meetings and reading their newspapers. During one of these meetings three years later Douglass was asked to speak of his experiences as a slave. This one meeting, his first speech changed his life forever. Frederick began his career as a speaker. Speaking against slavery while traveling all over to promote the abolitionist movement. Through speeches of his personal accounts and private emotions, Douglass became an orator that moved his audiences to tears. Frederick continued to fight for his cause through writing. He started his own publication “The North Star” an abolitionist newspaper with the motto “Right is of no Sex-Truth is of no color- God is