Thread by @ibramxk

Today, February 14, is not only #ValentinesDay. It is the day one of the most eminent abolitionists and orators in U.S. history *chose* to celebrate his birthday. Like many Black people born into slavery, Frederick Douglass did not know his birthday. A thread 1/

Douglass was born into slavery on a Maryland plantation around 1818. He did not know the exact date of his birth. Douglass chose February 14 because of a tender memory he had of his mother, Harriet Bailey, which was also the last memory he had of her. 2/

In "My Bondage and My Freedom," Douglass writes of his mother making him a ginger cake "in the shape of a heart, with a rich, dark ring glazed upon the edge of it." As historian Dickson J. Preston notes, Douglass also said that his mother called him her "Little Valentine." 3/

Douglass held this memory close to his heart, especially since enslavers stole him away from his mother shortly after his birth. He only saw his mother sporadically before she died when he was about 7 years old. No doubt this love sustained him as he worked toward abolition. 4/

Love sustains the striving to be antiracist, to build an equitable and just society. This was true of Douglass's life. It must be true of our lives as we celebrate Douglass’s birthday on this #ValentinesDay during this #BlackHistoryMonth. 5/5