September 3
FREEDOM DAY
It was on this day in 1838 that Frederick Douglass, a black man, boarded a train in the slave state of Maryland, dressed as a sailor with borrowed ID papers. He rode the train to Wilmington, Delaware. There he caught a steamboat to Philadelphia. Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, was a free city. There he transferred to a train that took him to New York City -- also a free city.
It was in New York that he was helped by the underground railway network to freedom.
Frederick Douglass became one of the nation’s strongest abolitionists, fighting in the struggle against slavery and one of America’s greatest orators. He published the weekly North Star, which was later titled Frederick Douglass’ Paper, to reach the black people. It was mostly through his urging that there were black troops serving in the Civil War.
His autobiography, Life and Times, is a narrative classic of escape to freedom.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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