Brief Evidence of Heaven: Poems from the life of Anna Murray Douglass

About the Book

Anna Murray Douglass was born free in Denton, Maryland, although her parents had been born into captivity.

In 1838, Anna Murray Douglass helped Frederick Douglass, her famous husband, escape from slavery. They remained married for 44 years. Later, she worked many jobs to increase the family income, raised their five children, managed their large country home in Rochester, and served as a conductor for the Underground Railroad station based there.   

Along with caring for freedom-seekers, she hosted countless abolitionists, including Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and John Brown.

Anna Murray Douglass never gained a full mastery of reading and writing, so she left no paper trail of letters or diaries that would allow us to appreciate her unique life.  Documentary attention to her begins with “My Mother As I Recall Her,” a booklet written by Rosetta Douglass Sprague in 1900. 

Because her husband’s writings barely mention her, and her daughter’s booklet is slim, I wrote Brief Evidence of Heaven to help us all imagine how this overshadowed activist, mother, and worker viewed the world.