Card Signed by Frederick Douglass, 1884.

Note card , 4.5x8 cm (1 3/4" 3 1/4"), mounted on a later paper backing, affixed within a custom plastic case; near fine. Douglass (1818-1895) after escaping from slavery, would eventually become one of the most powerful abolitionist spokespersons in America. In his three biographies he chronicled his life from his birth in Tuckahoe, Maryland to his return to the United States from England with a plan to start a newspaper. Douglass presented the brutality of slavery and racism in many episodes, including having his family taken from him at the age of seven, and receiving a savage beating in a Baltimore shipyard where he worked as a laborer by four whites. His life's goal was to promote "the universal and unconditional emancipation of my entire race." This note card comes from 1884, when he was a newlywed to his second wife, Helen Paris, living in Washington D.C. The first name is abbreviated, Fredk, but the signature is clear and highly legible. The card comes with a letter of authenticity. docsouth unc website.