Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

When Douglass and Anna arrive in New Bedford, they are urged to change their surname to avoid detection. Douglass had already switched from his birth name of Bailey to Johnson, but there are already too many Black Johnson families in town. Inspired by the protagonists of Sir Walter Scott’s narrative poem The Lady of the Lake, he settles on Douglas, adding an additional “S” for a flourish. The author writes, “Thus, began the long process of the most famous self-creation of an African American identity in American history” (88).

Douglass is impressed by the quality of life and education that the Black and White Yankee citizens of New Bedford enjoy as compared to the ignorance and squalor of the South. Although he can’t find work as a caulker because of racism, he is able to find a variety of odd jobs to support his growing family of a wife and two children. At this time, Douglass also returns to religion and finds a new home in the congregation of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. He soon puts his oratorical skills to use in delivering sermons.

Around the same time, Douglass receives his first copy of William Lloyd Garrison’s abolitionist newspaper, the Liberator.