Frederick Douglas Statue in Abolition Row Park

I recently heard about a new Park that had opened here in New Bedford called Abolition Row Park and I decided to swing by and check it out one morning, it was another dull grey morning which we have had quite a few of recently, before turning somedays into warm summer days, but I don't mind that so much its nice and cool when I go for my morning walks and generally quiet on the streets.

I did take shots of the park I will share in a future post but for today I will focus on a Statue I saw there

Statue Abolition row park.jpg

^{Sony A7iv 28mm F8 1/125 Sec ISO 320}
^{Click here to view larger}

The Statue is of Frederick Douglas, who I will admit I had not heard of, but did some research and found...

Frederick Douglass, one of history’s great abolitionists, he was born into slavery in Maryland the exact date isn’t known but it is believed it was in 1818.
After successfully escaping on his third try, Douglass rose to prominence and influence as an eloquent author, intellectual and human rights leader. He was the first African-American to hold high U.S. government ranks, as a diplomat in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and the first to be nominated for vice president.

and from another page source

Dressed as a mariner and carrying another seaman’s protection papers, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey boarded a train in Baltimore, Maryland in September 1838. As a slave, this escape attempt was a federal crime.

Bailey was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland in 1818. Later, his master leased him out as a caulker in Baltimore, where he worked on the wharves to make ships water-tight. In the 1830s, he met Anna Murray, a free woman who would aid his escape. Murray worked as a domestic servant in Baltimore; she sold a feather bed to buy Bailey's train ticket north.

At 20 years of age, Bailey traveled from Maryland to Delaware, and then to Philadelphia, before landing in New York City. In New York, Bailey sent for Murray. The two married in New York on September 15, 1838 − 12 days after Bailey had set off from Maryland. New York was a free state, but it was still not safe for the newlyweds. The couple took the name Johnson, and caught a steamer bound for Newport, Rhode Island.

Frederick and Anna Johnson landed in Newport the next morning. There, they met Quakers William C. Taber and Joseph Ricketson of New Bedford, Massachusetts. With their help, the couple boarded a stagecoach and traveled north to New Bedford. They arrived on September 17, and were welcomed by African-American abolitionists Nathan and Polly Johnson.

While in their home at 21 Seventh Street, Nathan Johnson encouraged Frederick to adopt the surname Douglass. As Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave would earn his first wages, start a family, and become an internationally-renowned speaker and abolitionist.

Infact until preparing this post I did not realize the significance of the house at 21 Seventh Street, which is right opposite the park, I did take a photo of it and must include in with the photos of the park