Editing Frederick Douglass (section)

==Escape from slavery==
Douglass first tried to escape from Freeland, who had hired him from his owner, but was unsuccessful. In 1837, Douglass met and fell in love with [[Anna Murray Douglass|Anna Murray]], a [[Free people of color|free black]] woman in Baltimore about five years his senior. Her free status strengthened his belief in the possibility of gaining his own freedom. Murray encouraged him and supported his efforts by aid and money.<ref name="ThompsonConyers2010PA124">{{cite book |first1=Michelle Nzadi |last1=Keita |first2=James |last2=Jones |contribution=Murray-Douglass, Anna (1813–1882) |editor1-first=Julius E. |editor1-last=Thompson |editor2-first=James L. Jr. |editor2-last=Conyers |editor3-first=Nancy J. |editor3-last=Dawson |title=The Frederick Douglass Encyclopedia |location=Santa Barbara, CA |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-313-31988-4 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sTV8OsmDQPcC&pg=PA124 124]}}</ref>

[[File:Anna Murray-Douglass.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Anna Murray Douglass]], Douglass's wife for 44 years, portrait c. 1860]]

On September 3, 1838, Douglass successfully escaped by boarding a northbound train of the [[Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad]] in Baltimore.<ref>{{cite web |date=February 14, 2018 |title=Today in African-American Transportation History – 1818: Frederick Douglass Begins His Journey into History |url=https://transportationhistory.org/2018/02/14/today-in-african-american-transportation-history-1818-frederick-douglass-begins-his-journey-into-history/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731224353/https://transportationhistory.org/2018/02/14/today-in-african-american-transportation-history-1818-frederick-douglass-begins-his-journey-into-history/ |archive-date=July 31, 2020 |access-date=February 10, 2020 |website=Transportation History |publisher=American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials}}</ref> The area where he boarded was formerly thought to be a short distance east of the train depot, in a recently developed neighborhood between the modern neighborhoods of [[Harbor East]] and [[Little Italy, Baltimore|Little Italy]]. This depot was at President and Fleet Streets, east of [[Inner Harbor|"The Basin"]] of the [[Port of Baltimore|Baltimore harbor]], on the northwest branch of the [[Patapsco River]]. Research cited in 2021, however, suggests that Douglass in fact boarded the train at the Canton Depot of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad on Boston Street, in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore, further east.<ref name="foxbaltimore.com">{{cite web |title=Juneteenth {{!}}Historic Panels Commemorating Frederick Douglass' Escape Unveiled in Canton |date=June 19, 2021 |url=https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/historic-panels-commemorating-frederick-douglass-escape-in-canton |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620054606/https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/historic-panels-commemorating-frederick-douglass-escape-in-canton |archive-date=June 20, 2021 |access-date=June 20, 2021}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web |title="Panels honoring Frederick Douglass to be unveiled at Canton waterfront" |date=June 9, 2021 |url=https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/panels-honoring-frederick-douglass-to-be-unveiled-at-canton-waterfront |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624201808/https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/panels-honoring-frederick-douglass-to-be-unveiled-at-canton-waterfront |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |access-date=June 20, 2021}}</ref><ref name="baltimore.cbslocal.com">{{cite web |title=Historic Panels Commemorate Frederick Douglass' Escape From Slavery In Canton |url=https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/video/5703188-historic-panels-commemorate-frederick-douglass-escape-from-slavery-in-canton/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204642/https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/video/5703188-historic-panels-commemorate-frederick-douglass-escape-from-slavery-in-canton/ |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |access-date=June 20, 2021}}</ref>

Douglass reached [[Havre de Grace, Maryland]], in [[Harford County, Maryland|Harford County]], in the northeast corner of the state, along the southwest shore of the [[Susquehanna River]], which flowed into the [[Chesapeake Bay]]. Although this placed him only some {{convert|20|mi}} from the Maryland–Pennsylvania state line, it was easier to continue by rail through Delaware, another slave state. Dressed in a sailor's [[uniform]] provided to him by Murray, who also gave him part of her savings to cover his travel costs, he carried identification papers and [[protection papers]] that he had obtained from a free black seaman.<ref name="ThompsonConyers2010PA124" /><ref>{{cite web |first=Shirley |last=Yee |date=February 11, 2007 |title=Anna Murray Douglass (c. 1813–1882) |url=http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/douglass-anna-murray-c-1813-1882 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902004244/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/douglass-anna-murray-c-1813-1882/ |archive-date=September 2, 2021 |access-date=February 27, 2011 |website=[[BlackPast.org]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Waldo E. Jr. |last=Martin |title=The Mind of Frederick Douglass |date=1984 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=978-0-8078-4148-8 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=bZaZbr2xox8C&pg=PA15 15]}}</ref>

Douglass crossed the wide Susquehanna River by the railroad's steam-ferry at Havre de Grace to [[Perryville, Maryland|Perryville]] on the opposite shore, in [[Cecil County, Maryland|Cecil County]], then continued by train across the state line to [[Wilmington, Delaware]], a large port at the head of the [[Delaware Bay]]. From there, because the rail line was not yet completed, he went by [[steamboat]] along the [[Delaware River]] farther northeast to the "Quaker City" of [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, an anti-slavery stronghold. He continued to the safe house of abolitionist [[David Ruggles]] in [[History of New York City|New York City]]. His entire journey to freedom took less than 24 hours.<ref name="SouthCoast">{{Cite news |date=February 17, 2008 |title=Discovering Anna Murray Douglass |work=[[South Coast Today]] |url=https://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080217/NEWS/802170364 |url-status=live |access-date=February 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716112833/http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20080217%2FNEWS%2F802170364 |archive-date=July 16, 2011}}</ref> Douglass later wrote of his arrival in New York City:

{{blockquote|I have often been asked, how I felt when first I found myself on free soil. And my readers may share the same curiosity. There is scarcely anything in my experience about which I could not give a more satisfactory answer. A new world had opened upon me. If life is more than breath, and the 'quick round of blood,' I lived more in one day than in a year of my slave life. It was a time of joyous excitement which words can but tamely describe. In a letter written to a friend soon after reaching New York, I said: 'I felt as one might feel upon escape from a den of hungry lions.' Anguish and grief, like darkness and rain, may be depicted; but gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Douglass |first=Frederick |title=Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, Written by Himself, His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time |title-link=Life and Times of Frederick Douglass |date=1881 |publisher=Christian Age Office |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/lifeandtimesfre00douggoog/page/n187 170]}}</ref>}}

Once Douglass had arrived, he sent for Murray to follow him north to New York. She brought the basic supplies for them to set up a home. They were married on September 15, 1838, by a black [[Presbyterian]] minister, just eleven days after Douglass had reached New York.<ref name=SouthCoast/> At first they adopted Johnson as their married name, to divert attention.<ref name="ThompsonConyers2010PA124" />