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Poet, author and spoken word performer Nathan M. Richardson brings to life the physical and spiritual essence of the influential social reformer and statesman Frederick Douglass for the Hampton History Museum’s Port Hampton Lecture Series on Monday, October 2, 7-8 pm.

Richardson as Douglass will speak in vivid detail about his life as a slave, his escape to freedom and his rise as a great writer, orator and abolitionist. He will recite excerpts from some of his historic speeches including "What to the Slave is the 4th of July" (1852), and "Women's Suffrage" (1888). At the close of the program, the audience can ask questions of Douglass.

Frederick Douglass, born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey on February 14, 1818 on the Eastern Shore in Talbot County MD, was a slave who escaped and became an abolitionist, orator, writer and statesman. Douglass wrote three autobiographies including My Bondage and My Freedom, and published a newspaper The North Star.  During the Civil War Douglass became an adviser to President Abraham Lincoln, was appointed US Marshall to DC and Counsel General to the Republic of Haiti. In 1872 he became the first African American nominated as vice-presidential candidate alongside Victoria Woodhull on the Equal Rights Party ticket. He passed away at his DC home Cedar Hill on February 20, 1895.