Trivia

Born on a plantation into slavery to a black mother and a white father. The exact date of his birth is unknown; he chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14.

As of July 2020, Barack and Michelle Obama's production company was in midst of adapting a major biography of Douglass into a Netflix film.

Escaped slavery in 1838 by fleeing North, changing his surname to "Johnson", then to "Douglass". His first owner was an Army officer whose wife taught Douglass the alphabet. However, under pressure from her husband, she came to believe that education and slavery were incompatible. Douglass taught himself how to read and write, publishing his autobiography in 1848.

While a consultant to Abraham Lincoln, Douglass advocated that the Civil War be made a direct confrontation against slavery.

His marriage to Helen Pitts was opposed by her abolitionist parents because he was biracial, and by his children because she was white. Helen was a descendant of Mayflower passengers John and Priscilla Alden.

Frederick Douglass has been cited as "the most photographed American of the 19th century," although his voice was never recorded.

Fritz Pollard was named for him.