It’s the date on which human rights activist and author Frederick Douglass (c. 1818-1895) used to celebrate his birthday, since his actual birth date was not known and his mother called him “my valentine.” Douglass wrote three autobiographies in his life, including the acclaimed Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1845, revised 1882).

Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Talbot County, Maryland, to Harriet Bailey, a black slave woman; his father was probably white and possibly Harriet’s owner. Douglass was separated from his mother and given to his grandmother to raise for the first seven or eight years of his life, and he only saw his mother a handful of times before she died in 1825. He was then separated from his grandmother and ultimately lent to the Auld family of Baltimore, where Mrs. Auld taught him to read until Mr. Auld put a stop to it. Douglass continued to learn on his own with the help of neighbor children.

Douglass was with the Aulds until his master died and he was sent back to the plantation, where his new master sent him to a slave breaker, Edward Covey, known to be extraordinarily cruel. Douglass worked under various masters (including the more humane William Freeman) before one of his escape attempts succeeded. It was September 3, 1838, and Douglass posed as a sailor and boarded a train to Philadelphia, then New York.

Later that same year, Douglass sent for and married Anna Murray (with whom he would have five children), a free woman who had helped him escape and whom he had met in Baltimore. They moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Douglass became active in the abolitionist movement. In 1845 Douglass published his first autobiography, named names, and had to go on a two-year speaking tour to Great Britain and Ireland in order to avoid being recaptured by one of those names. On his return he started an antislavery paper, The North Star, in Rochester, New York (woot woot!). (NB: If you come to Rochester, you can see Douglass’ grave in lovely Mt. Hope cemetery.)

Fun fact: Douglass was the only African American to attend the Seneca Falls Convention for women’s rights in 1848, so: extra life points for Douglass.

Douglass had a complicated relationship with Abraham Lincoln: Douglass was upset that Lincoln didn’t use the Emancipation Proclamation to give ex-slaves the vote (1863), although supposedly they later reconciled, which is good because they had two of the most massive and forward-thinking brains in American history. There is a ton more to say about Douglass’ life, and this recent biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by historian David W. Blight, seems to do so carefully and intelligently.

Have a thoughtful Valentine’s Day involving some sort of chocolate and stay scrupulously honest to the data.