[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 14, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

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                           HON. BILL HUIZENGA

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 14, 2018

  Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Speaker, this February marks the 200th anniversary 
of the birth of a truly great American, Mr. Frederick Douglass. Having 
been born into slavery as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in 
Talbot County, Maryland, Mr. Douglass never knew his real birthday. He 
often lamented that he had only a few, shadowy memories of his mother, 
who would walk miles at night to visit him as a child, and then walk 
back home to be in the fields before sunrise. Yet that little boy would 
grow up into a brave young man, who taught himself to read and write, 
and successfully escaped slavery on his third attempt. He would marry 
Anna, the love of his life, and remain married to her until her death. 
He was a devoted father to all five of their children. While still a 
fugitive slave, he would write the first of three autobiographies: 
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which 
remains one of the greatest books ever written in the English language. 
Mr. Douglass was a deeply courageous American who never shied away from 
confronting evil, even at great personal risk. He became a world-renown 
orator in the cause of abolition, laying bare the horrors of slavery 
and helping to end that cursed institution in America once and for all. 
He began and edited his own abolitionist newspaper, The North Star. He 
successfully published his paper until slavery ended, despite 
opposition and persecution from other abolitionists. He met with and 
served as an advisor to President Lincoln during the Civil War, and did 
not hesitate to confront the President directly over the treatment of 
African American soldiers in the Union Army. After the Civil War ended, 
Douglass served four more presidents, fighting to end racial 
segregation and to get African Americans and women the right to vote. 
For his entire life, he worked tirelessly to bring justice to the 
oppressed and to call America to live out its highest ideals, reminding 
us that ``The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is 
honest, truthful, and virtuous.'' I would also like to recognize two 
great organizations that have been founded to continue Mr. Douglass' 
legacy of faith-based activism, moral courage and clarity, and family 
devotion. The Frederick Douglass Foundation was founded in 2009 by Dr. 
Timothy Johnson, Mr. Troy Rolling and Rev. Dean Nelson to engage and 
recruit black activists, community leaders to become members of the 
Republican Party. The organization has thousands of members and 
chapters in over 15 states. The Douglass Leadership Institute, founded 
in 2015 by Rev. Dean Nelson, a non-partisan organization which 
educates, equips and empowers faith-based leaders to embrace and apply 
biblical principles to life. Both organizations are committed to 
Righteousness, Justice, Liberty and Virtue.

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