1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Frederick Douglass Congressional Gold Medal Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Frederick Douglass overcame the harrowing circumstances of slavery to become one of America’s most prominent and influential figures as an abolitionist, journalist, and activist. He used his voice and influence to advocate for the end of slavery, the advancement of civil rights, and the right of black men to vote. (2) Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in February 1818 in the northeast corner of Talbot County near the town of Queen Anne. At age 6, Frederick Douglass began laboring at the wheat plantation of Colonel Edward Lloyd. He was soon transferred to Baltimore, where he worked for 7 years in the residence of Hugh and Sophia Auld. (3) Despite laws that prohibited literacy of enslaved individuals, Frederick Douglass secretly taught himself to read and write by examining discarded newspapers and studying books on rhetoric, mastering the style of the time period. On literacy, Douglass was clear, stating: Once you learn to read, you will be forever free. , and that Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave. . (4) Douglass moved to a plantation near St. Michael, Maryland, where he started a secret school for slaves that was later broken up by an angry mob of white townspeople. As punishment, Douglass was loaned out to a local farmer with a reputation as a slave breaker . Undaunted, Douglass started another school for slaves and began plotting to escape and liberate himself from slavery. (5) Sent back to the Auld residence in Baltimore, Douglass unsuccessfully attempted to buy his freedom, and instead escaped in 1838 at the age of 20. Speaking of his freedom, Douglass said, I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs. . He traveled to New York where he worked on whaling ships while avoiding slave catchers. He adopted the surname Douglass on the suggestion of his friend, Nathan Johnson, who was inspired by a character in Sir