Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was an African American abolitionist and social reformer, author, orator, and statesman. John R. McKivigan is Mary O'Brien Gibson Professor of History at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. Peter P. Hinks is a public historian, historical editor, and author of numerous essays and books on African American and American history before the Civil War. Heather L. Kaufman is the coeditor of several volumes on Douglass and a research associate of the Douglass Papers.