Frederick Douglass, 9x12 Graphite Drawing

Continuing my series of Civil Rights heroes, here is my rendering of Frederick Douglass, who escaped slavery and became a leader of the antislavery movement. He was a great writer and an orator who was much in demand. In describing his childhood, he wrote this:

    "The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness of this opinion, I know nothing...My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant. It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age....I do not recollect of ever seeing my mother by the light of day. She was with me in the night. She would lie down with me, and get me to sleep, but long before I waked she was gone."

What an amazing spirit he had to overcome beatings, dehumanization and loss of his mother to become one of the most respected intellectuals of his time. He credited finding faith in God when he was a teen with bringing him out of his despair.