Today's Google Doodle is kicking off Black History Month brilliantly, with an illustration celebrating the life of Frederick Douglass. The abolitionist, orator, author and diplomat was born sometime in February 1818, with his exact birth date unknown.
To celebrate his life and legacy, Google invited artist Richie Pope to create a portrait of the abolitionist for the Google front page on February 1st. To further celebrate Douglass's life, Google Play Books has teamed up with Open Road Integrated Media to offer a free download of Douglass’s moving 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave.
The Google Cultural Institute has also provided a collection of digital artwork and documents celebrating black history in America, including a powerful letter that Douglass wrote to his slave master in 1857:
A section of the letter reads:
My heart tells me that you are too noble to treat with indifference the request I am about to make, It is twenty years since I ran away from you, or rather not from you but from Slavery, and since then I have often felt a strong desire to hold a little correspondence with you and to learn something of the position and prospects of your dear children. They were dear to me -- and are still -- indeed I feel nothing but kindness for you all -- I love you, but hate Slavery.
We're honoring people like Douglass and those he inspired through our own Black History Month tributes, the Black Future Month series.
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