Original name FREDERICK AUGUSTUS WASHINGTON BAILEY black American who was one of the most eminent human-rights leaders of the 19th century. His oratorical and literary brilliance thrust him into the forefront of the U.S. Abolition movement , and he became the first black citizen to hold high rank in the U.S. government. Separated as an infant from his slave mother (he never knew his white father), Frederick lived with his grandmother on a Maryland …showed first 75 words of 543 total…

…showed last 75 words of 543 total…the movement led by James G. Birney. He did not countenance violence, however, and specifically counselled against the raid on Harpers Ferry, Va. (October 1859). During the Civil War (1861-65) he became a consultant to Pres. Abraham Lincoln, advocating that former slaves be armed for the North and that the war be made a direct confrontation against slavery. Throughout Reconstruction (1865-77), he fought for full civil rights for freedmen and vigorously supported the women's rights movement.