The Freedom Weaver
How Anna Murray Douglass Stitched Together an Abolitionist Legacy
History is full of hidden figures—people like Anna Murray Douglass, whose sacrifices made freedom possible but whose names are too often forgotten. Your paid support ensures that these stories get told, remembered, and honored.
A common pattern in popular historical understandings of the abolitionist movement is to view men as the central characters in the drama against slavery.
But such a view is inaccurate.
Women fought, died, and sacrificed for freedom as often as the men did. In many cases, the husband in a married couple gets all the attention but, in reality, he could not have succeeded without his spouse.
The case of Anna Murray and Frederick Douglass is a clear example of how there would be no great men to remember without the great women who stood beside them.
Anna Murray was born in Maryland around 1813, though the exact date of her birth is unknown. Her parents had been enslaved but were freed just one month before Anna was born, making her the first of their twelve children born into freedom.
She left home at seventeen years old to support herself as a seamstress.
Anna remained largely illiterate for the rest of her life, but she excelled in management, financial planning, and resourcefulness.
Most of what we now know about Anna Murray comes from accounts by her children. In 1900, her daughter Rosetta Douglass Sprague delivered a speech to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union titled “My Mother as I Recall Her.”
The speech was later made into a book by the same name, which offers an intimate portrait of this lesser-known abolitionist.
In the opening strains of her address, Douglass Sprague acknowledged the fame of her father.
“The story of Frederick Douglass’ hopes and aspirations and longing desire for freedom has been told—you all know it.”
She then continued by explaining the significance of her mother, Anna Murray, particularly in comparison with Frederick Douglass’s exploits.
“It was a story made possible through the unswerving loyalty of Anna Murray, to whose memory this paper is written.”
Frederick Bailey, as Douglass was known at the time, and Anna Murray met sometime in 1838 in Baltimore, perhaps while attending the same church.
Their affection for each other was hindered by the fact that Anna was free but Frederick was enslaved. Douglass’s harrowing escape from slavery is well detailed in his autobiographies, but Anna Murray’s role in his emancipation is lesser known.
She sewed for him the sailor’s uniform he used as a disguise to board a ship bound for the North. She also borrowed a freedman’s certificate that Douglass could use as a sort of fake ID during his escape.
In her role helping Frederick Douglass escape slavery, Anna Murray was literally a freedom weaver.
In addition, she provided the money for them to settle in Massachusetts and begin life together.
“The little that they possessed was the outcome of the industrial and economical habits that were characteristic of my mother,” wrote Douglass Sprague.
Throughout their forty-four-year marriage, Anna Murray Douglass used her prodigious skills as an organizer and manager to run their household.
As her husband’s notoriety increased, Anna Murray Douglass “in every possible way that she was capable of aided him by relieving him of all the management of the home as it increased in size and in its appointments.”
She also risked her life by harbor- ing Douglass as a fugitive slave until English friends raised money to purchase him out of slavery in 1845.
She opened her home as a stop on the Underground Railroad to assist others escaping from slavery. She provided for her husband by saving money and raising their five children, including a two-year stint when he was away on a speaking tour in Europe.
In all her efforts, Anna Murray Douglass professed faith in God and aspired to live a life of Christian integrity.
Anna was a Methodist, as was her husband. Even though there was no “family altar” in the house, her daughter recounts their regular spiritual practices.
“Our custom was to read a chapter in the Bible around the table, each reading a verse in turn until the chapter was completed.”
This was no mere exercise or hollow ritual for Anna. “She was a person who strived to live a Christian life instead of talking it.”
Anna Murray Douglass suffered a stroke in 1842 and died soon thereafter. Frederick got remarried to a white woman named Helen (Pitts) Douglass eighteen months later, a pairing not without controversy and criticism.
Even though we rightly remember Frederick Douglass for his daring, his speechifying, his writing, and his activism, he may never have made it out of slavery if not for the tireless efforts of his wife Anna Murray.
His career as an abolitionist would not have been successful without her four-decade partnership. Anna Murray Douglass, through her steely strength and humble willingness to work without renown, exemplifies the spirit of justice.
History often remembers the most visible figures, but behind every movement are those who worked in the shadows. Who is a historical figure—famous or not—whose behind-the-scenes contributions deserve more recognition, and why?
This article is an excerpt adapted from The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Religion. Read more about lesser known figures of history who struggled against racism when you get your copy today.
I have read 2 books about the first women physicians in the United States: Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell who brought women to medicine and medicine to women. Also Mary Putnam Jacobi who brought science to medicine. Because of these women we have co-education in med schools and they developed and demanded a 4 year (rather than 3 y ) curriculum for med schools. (They also demanded a class in basic sanitation) They all trained in Europe after completing their studies here. So many obstacles and somehow they established hospitals, medical schools, taught and raised money and published and fought back against the hatred they faced) All before women could vote!
What a great story! Thank you for highlighting the work of women and the spouses of many great men in history. This is one of the excellent aspects of your book, Spirit of Justice.