Join us as Bob Davis portrays Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass, born in 1817, is a central figure in United States and African American history. Douglass escaped from slavery in 1838 and rose to become a principal leader and spokesperson for the U.S. Abolition movement. He would eventually develop into a towering figure for the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Douglass was a prominent activist, author and public speaker. and continued to push for equality and human rights until his death in 1895.