11 Facts About Anna Murray

1.

Anna Murray Douglass was an American abolitionist, member of the Underground Railroad, and the first wife of American social reformer and statesman Frederick Douglass, from 1838 to her death.

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2.

Anna Murray was born in Denton, Maryland, to Bambara and Mary Murray.

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3.

Unlike her seven older brothers and sisters, who were born in slavery, Anna Murray and her younger four siblings were born free, her parents having been manumitted just a month before her birth.

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4.

Anna Murray's freedom made Douglass believe in the possibility of his own.

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5.

When he decided to escape slavery in 1838, Anna Murray encouraged and helped him by providing Douglass with some sailor's clothing her laundry work gave her access to.

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6.

Anna Murray's gave him part of her savings, which she augmented by selling one of her feather beds.

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7.

Anna Murray Douglass had five children within the first ten years of the marriage: Rosetta Douglass, Lewis Henry Douglass, Frederick Douglass, Jr.

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8.

Anna Murray's helped support the family financially, working as a laundress and learning to make shoes, as Douglass's income from his speeches was sporadic and the family was struggling.

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9.

Anna Murray's took an active role in the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and later prevailed upon her husband to train their sons as typesetters for his abolitionist newspaper, North Star.

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10.

Anna Murray's died of a stroke in 1882 at the family home in Washington D C Anna Murray's was initially buried at Graceland Cemetery in Washington, D C, but the cemetery closed in 1894 and on 22 February 1895, she was moved to Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York.

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11.

Anna Murray changed his name to Douglass after his escape, because as a fugitive slave he was at risk of recapture.

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