Frederick Douglass

The writings and life of Frederick Douglass have served as an important inspiration to American composers, from Dorothy Rudd Moore's opera Frederick Douglass to the songs of Adolphus C. Hailstork.

Photo: Frederick Douglass, ca. 1879, public domain

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About

Born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Frederick Douglass taught himself to read and write and escaped to the north when he was 20 years old. His 1845 autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass cemented his importance as an abolitionist and civil rights orator and writer.

For more about Frederick Douglass, please visit the links listed under “Related Information.”

Related Information

Songs

Videos

Sheet Music

Fourth of July Speech

Composer(s): Dorothy Rudd Moore

Buy via American Composers Alliance

Second Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers

Composer(s): Leslie Adams, Adolphus Hailstork, John Rosamond Johnson, Hall Johnson, Betty Jackson King, Howard Swanson, John W. Work III

Buy via Videmus

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