Frederick douglass gives his first public speech to a white audience

11 AUGUST 1841

A c1847–52 daguerreotype of Frederick Douglass, who became a prominent abolitionist leader after himself escaping slavery

Frederick Douglass had led a remarkable life. The son of an enslaved black woman and an unknown white man, he was born into slavery in Maryland. He was taught the alphabet by the wife of the man for whom he was forced to work; having also taught himself to read, he shared Bible stories with other enslaved people. Then, in September 1838, Douglass escaped. Disguised as a sailor, he caught a train from Baltimore to Philadelphia, continuing then to New York City, a free man. Intent on securing liberty for others, he soon joined the burgeoning abolitionist movement.

A natural speaker, fired by the devastation and rage of his own experiences, on 11 August 1841 – just three years after his own escape from slavery – Douglass delivered a speech to an audience of more than 1,000 people in Nantucket, Massachusetts. From the lectern, he gazed out over a sea of white faces broken only occasionally by the face of another black person, leaving him intimidated and shaking. The Quaker abolitionist William Coffin invited Douglass to speak that evening – and Douglass was urged to simply “Tell your story”.

There is no record of Douglass’s exact words that evening, but journalists who had gathered to hear him were clearly moved by what he h