Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass was a key leader of the abolitionist movement, which fought to end slavery in the United States in the decades before the Civil War. A brilliant orator, Douglass was invited by the American Anti-Slavery Society to participate in a speaking tour and was thus recognized as one of America's first great black orators. He gained worldwide fame when his autobiography was published in 1845. Two years later, he published an anti-slavery newspaper called the North Star. Douglass served as an advisor to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and fought for the passage of constitutional amendments guaranteeing voting rights and other civil liberties to blacks. Douglass was a powerful voice for human rights during this period of American history and is still revered today for his contributions against racial injustice. The Slave Years Frederick Baily was born a slave in February 1818 at Holmes Hill Farm, near the town of Easton on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The farm was part of an estate owned by Aaron Anthony, who also managed the plantations of Edward Lloyd V, one of the richest men in Maryland. Lloyd's main plantation was near the east side of the Chesapeake Bay, 12 miles (19 km) from Holmes Hill Farm, in a house Anthony had built near Lloyd's mansion, where Frederick's first master lived. Frederick's mother, Harriet Baily, worked in the corn fields surrounding Holmes Hill. He knew little about his father, except that the man was white. As a child, he had heard rumors that the master, Aaron Anthony, had fathered him. Because Harriet Baily had to work long hours in the fields, Frederick had been sent to live with his grandmother, Betsey Baily. Betsy Baily lived in a cabin a short distance from Holmes Hill Farm. His job was to care for Harriet's children until they were old enough to work. Frédéric's mother visited him when she could, but he only had a vague memory of her. He spent his childhood playing in the woods near his grandmother's cabin. He did not consider himself a slave during these years. It was only gradually that Frédéric discovered a person that his grandmother called the Old Master and when she spoke of the Old Master, it was with a certain fear..