Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was born 200 years ago this month, and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore is celebrating his birthday with a full lineup of activities on Saturday, February 10.
Harvard professor and author John Stauffer will speak at the event.Douglass was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland in 1818, and secretly taught himself to read and write, later educating other slaves and defying slave owners. He was hired out to Baltimore to work for another family as a ship’s caulker. There, he tried to escape three times, finally succeeding in 1838 by getting to Havre de Grace by railroad, then through Delaware to the free state of Pennsylvania. He settled in Massachusetts and became an abolitionist leader, orator, and writer.
As part of February’s Black History Month events in Baltimore, the Lewis Museum will host Frederick Douglass Day, featuring living history re-enactors, talks by Harvard professor John Stauffer and Johns Hopkins professor Lawrence Jackson, and even a childrens’ art and story hour with London Ladd, who recently released a childrens’ book about Douglass.
The anniversary celebration is free, running from noon to 4 p.m. at the Lewis Museum on East Pratt Street in downtown Baltimore. For the full schedule of events and to RSVP, click here.
