Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, he was an abolitionist, essayist, newspaper editor, and an official recruiter of African-American soldiers for the United States Union Army during the American Civil War.

As a youngster while still under his parents' roof he joined them as active members and conductors of the Underground Railroad, receiving fugitives at their Rochester, New York home; feeding and clothing them, and providing safe, warm shelter as they made their way from bondage to freedom, which for many of these meant escape to British North America.

Although he himself was never a combat soldier during the American Civil War conflict, as were his two brothers, he was proud to have been a recruiter in behalf of the Union cause, especially regarding the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.

[1] As such, he worked closely with his father who had been the foremost civilian recruiter for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, and who had also served as a consultant and advisor to President Abraham Lincoln on the enlistment of African-Americans into the Union Army, in supporting the Commander in Chief's objective of reinforcing the Union's armed forces to put down the rebellion of the break-away Confederate States.

Frederick Douglass Jr. died on July 26, 1892, and was initially interred at Graceland Cemetery, beside his wife Virginia Hewlett who had preceded him in death on December 14, 1889.

I see no reason in the world why you or your race should not have the full countenance in the struggle for progress and education, and I am particularly happy in being the means of encouraging you; for, as a descendant of a race equally maligned and prejudged, I have a feeling of common cause; and who can foresee but what the stone the builders reject may become the head stone of our political and social structure.