LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION memorializing Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to
proclaim February 20, 2015, as Frederick Douglass Day in the State of
New York, honoring the noted African-American orator, journalist, and
anti-slavery leader who was a longtime resident of New York State and
the City of Rochester on the 120th Anniversary of his death

WHEREAS, Frederick Douglass, whose original name was Frederick Augustus
Bailey, was born in 1817, in Talbot County, Maryland, to a black slave,
Harriet Bailey, and an unknown white father; and
WHEREAS, Frederick Douglass went on to become the most prominent Afri-
can-American orator, journalist, and antislavery leader of the 19th
Century; and
WHEREAS, After learning basic literacy skills as a child, at the age
of 13, Mr. Douglass bought his first book entitled, THE COLUMBIAN
ORATOR, which convinced him of the injustice of slavery and of the right
of all people to be free; and
WHEREAS, In 1845, Frederick Douglass published his first autobiography
entitled A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AN AMERICAN
SLAVE, a narrative which was one of the most important accounts written
by a fugitive slave and became a major source of information about slav-
ery and a classic piece of American literature; and
WHEREAS, After spending two years in England, Mr. Douglass returned to
the United States in 1847, a free man after some of his British friends
purchased his freedom; and
WHEREAS, Upon his return to the United States, Frederick Douglass
started publishing a weekly newspaper called THE NORTH STAR, which later
became the FREDERICK DOUGLASS WEEKLY, a newspaper managed and edited
solely by blacks in order to disprove the proslavery argument that
blacks were "naturally inferior"; and
WHEREAS, From 1847 through 1863, Mr. Douglass continuously published
his newspapers, which also included DOUGLASS' MONTHLY, through which he
championed the rights of free blacks and slaves and supported a number
of other causes, most notably women's rights; and
WHEREAS, From 1840 through the 1850s, Frederick Douglass worked close-
ly with the antislavery Liberty Party, a party he helped organize, which
called for the election of abolitionists to public office and demanded
the total elimination of slavery; and
WHEREAS, Believing deeply in the right of slaves to rebel and in the
right of fugitives to resist re-enslavement, his house in Rochester, New
York, was used as a station of the Underground Railroad, a network of
antislavery activists who helped smuggle slaves from the south safely to
the north and to Canada; and
WHEREAS, On July 4, 1852, Frederick Douglass, renowned for his
eloquence, delivered an Independence Day Address entitled "What to the
Slaves is the Fourth of July?," an address which commemorated the coming
of independence to the United States and focused on the topic of "Ameri-
can Slavery"; and
WHEREAS, During the Civil War, Frederick Douglass argued that slavery
was the true cause of the conflict and that the Union should make the
abolition of slavery its primary focus; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Douglass also called for the Union Army to recruit slaves
and free blacks, helping to raise two regiments of black soldiers, the
Massachusetts 54th and 55th; his own sons, Frederick and Lewis, were
among the first to volunteer for these all-black regiments; and
WHEREAS, During the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War, Frederick
Douglass campaigned for suffrage and civil rights for all blacks, becom-
ing a spokesperson for improving the circumstances of former slaves; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Douglass also worked for the passage of the 13th, 14th,
and 15th Amendments which abolished slavery, made all people born in the
United States citizens, and prohibited racial discrimination in voting;
and
WHEREAS, Frederick Douglass died on February 20, 1895, in Washington,
D.C.; funeral services were held in the Rochester Central Presbyterian
Church in Rochester, New York, and he was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery,
Rochester; and
WHEREAS, It is important to recall and honor individuals such as
Frederick Douglass, longtime New York State resident, fittingly recog-
nizing their valued contributions and publicly acknowledging their
endeavors which have enhanced the basic humanity among us all; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to declare the 120th Anniversary of
his death, February 20, 2015, as Frederick Douglass Day in the State of
New York; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of New
York; and Bernice Musgrave, President of the Sullivan County, New York,
Chapter of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and
History.