FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO AMY POST¹Amy Post (1802-89) was born Amy Kirby in Jericho, New York. In 1828 she married Isaac Post, a druggist and the husband of her deceased sister. The Posts became involved with Garrisonian abolitionism and the Underground Railroad after they moved to Rochester in 1835. Amy also acted as a vice president of the American Anti-Slavery Society in the 1850s and 1860s. Douglass first met the couple when he stayed at their home during a lecture tour in 1842, and their friendship influenced his choice of Rochester as the base for his newspaper, the North Star. In addition to abolitionism, Amy Post participated in a broad range of reforms, including the women’s movement, which began at the convention that she helped to organize in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Hewitt, , 116–17, 119–20, 140, 143, 184, 230–31; Blake McKelvey, “Civic Medals Awarded Posthumously,” , 22: 10 (April 1960).

Akron, [Ohio.] 26 Jan[uary] 1868.

MY DEAR FRIEND:

You manifested so much of your old time interest in me when I called at your house to say farewell, that I cannot do less than to send you a line at this my first opportunity.²Douglass spoke in Marysville, Ohio, on 23 January 1868, and then in Akron on both 25 and 26 January at the start of a two-month speaking tour of the Midwest. He had spoken in Bath, New York, on 17 January 1868, so the visit to the Post house in Rochester must have occurred between 18 and 22 January. , ser. 1, 4: xxiv. I had not travelled far from the sunshine of your home, before I met the chilling frost of that prejudice which has been the bane of my life. I was positively refused a berth in the sleeping car from Buffalo to Cleveland—and threatened with an old fashoned “drag out” if I refused to go out peaceably. High and angry words passed over me—and for a time, I was preparing my body for the brusing in store for me. The loud talk between the conductor and myself brought to the scene a number of the passengers—most of whom stood up manfully for my right—and this with my own firmness, brought the conductor to his senses. He at last gave me a bed—and I slept about as well as a man can when his temper has been sorely tried—You will not regret, my dear friend, when you review your past, that your life has been a constant and an earnest protest against this vile spirit of caste—I am speaking every night and travelling every day—I have but little time for letter writing—Kind Regards to my friend Isaac—This is a selfish little note: All about myself—

Truly yours

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

ALS: Post Family Papers, Rush Rhees Library, NRU.