Frederick Douglass Timeline

1838

Arrival in New Bedford with wife Anna Murray

1841

Origins of public speaking

August 9: The Douglasses are invited to an anti-slavery convention in Nantucket
August 11: Douglass is called from the audience to speak at the meeting
Abolitionist John A. Collins, then vice-president of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, hires Douglass
Douglass delivers speeches in the following towns: New Bedford, Nantucket, Millbury, Groton, Abington, Lynn*, West Brookfield, Holden, Concord, Boston, Wrentham, Hingham, Fall River

1842

Speaking as an agent for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society

Douglass delivers speeches in the following cities: Worcester, Barre, Boston 4*, Andover, Hubbardston, South Scituate, Groton, Harvard, Dedham, Bolton, Lanesborough, Westborough, Upton, Milford, Bellingham, Wrentham, Foxboro, Sharon, Canton, Medfield, Dedham, Medway 2, Dover, Needham, Lexington, Natick, Malden, Sherborn, Hopkinton, Woburn, Grafton 2, Stoneham 2, Weymouth, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Assonet (Westport), North Rochester, Millbury, North Reading, Oxford, Charlton, Southbridge, Sturbridge, Dudley, Webster, Northbridge, Millville 2, Yarmouthport, Osterville, Centerville, Hyannis, North Dennis, Brewster, New Bedford 3, Nantucket, Sutton 2, Lynn, Salem, Essex, Auburn, Berlin, Rockport
The “Brotherhood of Thieves” riot in Nantucket unfolds

1843-44

Continued speechmaking

1843: Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society (MASS) plans The One Hundred Conventions, a lecture series on abolition to take place in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana
1843: Douglass delivers speeches in the following cities and towns: Boston 3, Lynn 2, Princeton, Dedham, Lowell, Lunenberg, Fall River 2, Nantucket, New Bedford, Kingston
1844: Douglass delivers speeches as an agent of MASS in the following cities and towns: Boston 2, Lowell, Groton, Townsend, Bedford, Concord2, Sudbury* (was denied a hall to speak) Framingham, Needham, Medford, Waltham, Dorchester, Dedham, Braintree, Foxboro, Walpole, Medway, Wrentham, Westminster, Leominster, Essex, Fitchburg, Ashburnham, Gardner, Hubbardston, Petersham, Athol, Lynn, Northampton, Pittsfield, Lenox, Stockbridge, New Bedford, Salem, Marblehead, Cambridgeport, Milford

1845

Publication and public rhetoric

1845: Douglass publishes Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Douglass delivers speeches as an agent of MASS in the following cities and towns: Boston 2, New Bedford 3, Worcester, Manchester, Dedham, Springfield, Georgetown, Uxbridge, Worcester, Holden, Westminster, Northampton, Athol, Hubbardston, Princeton, Barre, West Brookfield, South Wilbraham, Weymouth, Hingham, Kingston, Duxbury, Lynn
August 16: Sails for England