Frederick Douglass. Social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman, 1865.

By goldeagle49

I mostly know Douglass as this huge abolitionist name, but reading this made me realize how much else he did too. He was an orator and writer, and his autobiographies—especially the 1845 one—seem to have really taken off and helped push the abolition cause. Then there’s the women’s suffrage support and all the public roles he had. The part about him being nominated for vice president without his approval is honestly kind of wild to me, even though I guess it fits with how he was always involved in bigger movements. And I’m not totally sure how to feel about the Victoria Woodhull connection, just because it sounds like it happened in a pretty unexpected way. The last bit, where he goes to the National Council of Women meeting in D.C. and gets a standing ovation, then dies soon after of a massive heart attack at 77, just feels so sudden.