Beginning with his 1845 autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave," Frederick Douglass provided fuel for the abolitionist movement.
In 1854, the civil rights leader delivered the commencement address at Western Reserve College. Titled “The Claims of the Negro, Ethnologically Considered: An Address, Before the Literary Societies of Western Reserve College, at Commencement, July 12, 1854,” the speech countered pro-slavery reasoning.
