1870 Portrait of Frederick Douglas, Abolitionist, Suffragist, Orator, Statesman. February 1817/18 - February 20, 1895). "After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counterexample to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Likewise, Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave." (Wikepedia)