Dunbar’s poem is dedicated to memorializing the life of Frederick Douglass, who died in 1895 at the age of 77. During his lifetime, Douglass made an invaluable contribution to shaping America. Born into slavery in 1817, he learned to read while working on a plantation, and escaped to freedom at age 21 to settle in New Bedford, Massachusetts with his wife Anna Murray. From there, he became one of the most famous Black men in the country: He was a national leader in the abolitionist movement prior to the Civil War, was well known for his skilled oratory and anti-slavery writings, and he encouraged President Abraham Lincoln to accept Black soldiers into the army during the Civil War and treat them equally. Douglass also pushed for a way to get liberated slaves to the north after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863. After the war, Douglass lobbied for the Black suffragist movement with President Andrew Johnson and continued to fight for equal treatment of his race under the Constitution.

Throughout his career, Douglass spoke on the condition of the Black race, and was a longtime contributor to the women’s suffragist movement, as well. He was considered by many as a living

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