Frederick Douglass is perhaps the best-known abolitionist in American history. He is responsible for building much support for the abolitionist movement in the years leading up to the Civil War. He, along with many others, managed to gain support and attention for the abolitionist movement. People like him are the reason slavery ended in the United States. Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born in February 1818 in Maryland to a slave and a white man. 1 He was separated from his mother as a child and the only thing he knew for sure about his father was that he was white, although he thought it was a possibility that his father could have been his master. 2 He stayed with his aunt and grandparents when he was a child until he was sent to be a shipwright in Baltimore for the next eight years of this life. 3 It was in Baltimore that Frederick learned to read and it was also there that he first heard of abolitionists. 4 After those seven years he was sent back to the country where he worked for a slave owner and was continuously beaten and starved. 5 This horrible treatment led Frederick to want to escape, which he finally managed to do in 1838 when he fled to New York City where he married and changed his name to Frederick Douglass. 6 Shortly thereafter he settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts. 7Douglass then began doing everything he could to engage in the abolitionist movement. He joined various organizations, continued to educate himself, attended abolitionist meetings, and subscribed to and wrote to The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper. 8 All this involvement led many to pay attention to Douglass. He began a friendship with William Lloyd Garrison, the publisher of The Liber... middle of paper... aged to create a legacy of greatness and unrelenting determination. Douglass was an inspiration to many and was able to continually garner support for the abolitionist movement with his talent and passion as both a writer and public speaker. He took action and was able to gain attention and create followers for his cause. The work of him and his fellow abolitionists helped end slavery in the United States. Without Douglass and others like him, it is questionable when and how slavery would have finally ended in America. History of the United States. Last modified 2011. http://www.ushistory.org/us/28b.asp.Douglass, Frederick. An account of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave, written by himself. Boston, 1845.Frederick Douglass. PBS online. Last modified 2011. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1539.html.