The National Anti-Slavery Convention, white, was held in 1836; they had delegates from ten States, and 1006 anti-slavery societies existed in the different States. The Free Colored People of the North also held an anti-slavery convention in 1831. Their first work was to get recognition from the white organizations, who shut them out. The "Anti-Slavery Free Women of America" organized in 1837, in New York. Mary S. Parker was President, Angelina E. Grimkie; Secretary. Miss Sarah Forten addressed the following verses to her white sisters in behalf of co-operation: "We are thy sisters. God has truly said That of one blood all nations He has made. ་ Soon after this, the free Negroes of the North acted together with the whites in the great fight against slavery. Negro orators told in eloquent style the sad story of the bondage of their race. Frederick Douglass, once a slave in Maryland, electrified the whole country with his eloquence. He stood then, and now, as a living, breathing, convinc ing argument against the claim that the Negro's intellectual capacities fit him only for slavery. Mr. Douglass visited Europe and was received there with an ovation, for the cause of the slave had leaped across the Atlantic and touched a sympathetic chord in many a British heart. Many Books were written by Negroes, as well as whites. Frederick Douglass wrote "My Bondage and My Freedom;" Bishop Loguen, "As a Slave and as a Freeman;" other works by Rev. Samuel R. Ward, Rev. Austin Stewart, Solomon Northorp, Dr. Wm. Wells Brown, and others. William Whipper edited an abolition paper, known as the National Reformer. Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, was the most read, and the most effectual; work against slavery. CHAPTER XV. FREDERICK DOUGLASS. THIS great man is well known to the world. He is a conspicuous representative of the talents and capabilities possessed by the colored race. Born a slave on a plantation in Maryland, he has gradually, by industry and patient labor, worked himself to the highest rank of honor, both in America and Europe. When Frederick Douglass speaks the world listens. He is as much quoted as any living American statesman. The first ten years of Mr. Douglass' youth were spent on one of the many plantations of a rich planter named Lloyd, in the State of Maryland. He was separated from his mother, who only saw him at long intervals. He, with the other little slave boys, grew up from almost infancy in their tow shirts, with their ash-cake rations and frequent beatings, given them by a certain "old Aunt Kate," who had charge of the children on the plantation. In this wild way, young Fred was left to grow up as best he could among the rough farm hands and without a mother's care. He describes his mother to have been a noble-looking woman, with the deepest of motherly affection and very fond of him, as shown by her running dangerous risks and often walking many long miles to see him. At the age of ten years he was sent by his "Old Master" to live with his young mistress, in Baltimore, who was connected with the Lloyd family. This young lady became attached to him, and taught him to read. He learned to read the Bible and made such rapid progress that the young lady, feeling very proud of her work, told her husband. When he found it out he forbade her teaching him any further, saying it was unlawful, "could only lead to mischief," and, "if you give a nigger an inch he will take an ell." Nevertheless, Fred soon became proficient in reading, and he learned to write by the models in his young master's copybook. He bought a book called the Columbian Orator, in which he found speeches from Sheridan, Lord Chatham, William Pitt and Fox. These he read many times and gained much mental help from them. Finally, young Fred, whose mind now was enlightened, became so dissatisfied with his position as a slave that he grew morose and gloomy. His young mistress chided him for this conduct, and it finally became necessary to hire him out. found a good opportunity and ran away to New |