In Review

Frederick Douglass, widely considered the most important abolitionist leader in American history, was honored by the University during this spring’s commencement ceremonies.

Douglass, who made his home in Rochester from 1847 to 1872, was recognized with an honorary degree, the first time the honor has been presented posthumously. The degree was accepted by his great-great-great grandson, Kenneth Morris Jr.

After the ceremony, Morris said the family appreciated the recognition, particularly as a way to mark the 200th anniversary of Douglass’s birth into slavery.

“Frederick Douglass said it’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken men,” Morris said. “We’re living in a time right now where we need the glorious light of truth and people who will speak when others say be quiet, and stand when others say sit down. To hear that all these years later, he’s inspiring the next generation of leaders is very humbling. He still has that impact, all these years later.”

Born into slavery on a Maryland plantation in 1818, Douglass escaped to the North at age 20 with the help of Anna Murray, a free black woman in Baltimore. The two eventually married and settled together in Rochester, where Douglass founded the abolitionist newspaper the North Star. From 1847 until 1863, he published the paper—renamed Frederick Douglass’ Paper in 1851—from a second story office in the Talman Building at 25 East Main Street.

An accomplished writer and speaker, Douglass taught himself to read and write. Before settling in Rochester, he traveled to Great Britain and Ireland—in large part to avoid recapture—and spoke widely, to growing crowds. In Rochester, Douglass became friends with Susan B. Anthony and took up the cause of women’s rights, attending the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York. Douglass and Anthony were at the center of a prominent group of western New York activists who agitated for abolition and women’s suffrage under the common umbrella of human rights.

Douglass delivered many of his most famous speeches while in Rochester, including his 1852 Independence Day address, “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?” He published three memoirs: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881).

After moving to Washington, D.C., in 1872, he would eventually serve in several roles under five presidents.

Douglass died at his home in Washington in 1895. He is buried in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery.