It was a time of joyous excitement which words can but tamely describe. In a letter written to a friend soon after reaching New York, I said: "I felt as one might feel upon escape from a den of hungry lions."
—Frederick Douglass

why was it important for douglass to speak publicly against slavery?
O to spare others what he had endured to raise his voice on behalf of those who had none
O to prove the humanness of enslaved people
O to provide hope to those who were still enslaved
O to use his freedom for good to help shape the post-slavery country