Frederick Douglass argued against slavery and for equal rights with such clarity and precision that he earned a reputation as America’s predominant African-American abolitionist and agitator during the 19th century. As founder and editor of the North Star and a leading proponent of the antislavery movement, he convincingly expressed the moral issues of human freedom and equality. He believed that the status of African-Americans was the touchstone of American democracy. Because of these beliefs, he became known as the “father of the civil rights movement.”
