Frederick Douglass 1815-1895

Frederick Douglass, a brilliant orator, writer, abolitionist, educator, and statesman, was freed from slavery by purchase and selected Rochester in 1847 as the place to establish his paper, The North Star, soon renamed the Frederick Douglass Paper. He delivered many abolitionist and suffrage addresses internationally. During the Civil War, he met with President Lincoln to urge equal treatment and uniforms for black and white Union soldiers. His dramatic appeal in 1863, “Men of Color, To Arms“ was reprinted in Boston and New York, where he sought recruits for two black regiments. After the war, he moved to Washington and became a consultant on Reconstruction laws. President Harrison appointed him minister to Haiti in 1889. When he died in 1895, his body was returned to Rochester to lie in state at City Hall. He was buried in Mount Hope cemetery, and his statue now stands in Highland Park.

Rochester, New York · United States