ruggles played an important role in getting this process going.y: frederick douglas got married there. >> one of the thing interested in the gay thing, he gave the name and in the new name imprinted seas to avoid capture, they changed our names. ruggles told douglas, you have to change your name to avoid capture. he did it twice. first he was frederick bailey, then frederick johnson. when he got to new bedford massachusetts, he said, every other black family here is named johnson, so i better find another name. he decided to call himself frederick douglass. juan: ruggles would confront slave captures who are trying to grab people off the streets? >> he is a very militant guy. he went into a house in brooklyn -- there were many slaveowners who came up to new york city with their slaves. new york had very close economic ties to the south. the cotton trade, all that. even after slavery is abolished in new york state, there are still slaves on the streets. ruggles goes into someone's house and says, the slaves are free and you don't have a right to br

as leaders, may we never lose ruggle vision or the boldness to do on great things no matter how hard struggle is. for without vision, the people may perish. 50 years ago, the eyes of the world were on alabama. today, i invite you to look at alabama again. our state is a place where we can all call sweet home alabama. may god bless this great nation and may god bless this great state of alabama forever. thank you very much.n of >> good afternoon, america. welcome to my hometown of selma.obam to president and mrs. bush to president and mrs. obama, to alla, alaba of you it is indeed a great day to be in selma, alabama. as a daughter of selma, i have crossed this bridge many times. many times i have felt the weight carried by the brave food soldiers of the voting rights that movement. and many times i have thanked them for their courage that they displayed in the face of extremey hatred.n i was i first began to understand the history of the edmund pettus bridge when i was 5 years old. my mom started to explain to me the events that took place on that bridge. a it was hard for me to under

the one in new york city, david ruggles, a black abolitionists. but they were white abolitionists involved. is interracial organizations and much of the money came from white. most free black people were rather poor. they had limited economic opportunities. money was raised among men. in new york they went to lewis topping, a well-to-do merchant who is a dedicated abolitionist. they went to jared smith a wealthy out-of-state abolitionist. whites are contributing and taking part but most of it is by free blacks and unknown to us. they were fugitives hidden on ships. dock workers would notify local abolitionist that do this. or send them to the anti-slavery office. blacks who worked at the rabbit depots. blacks who are at hotel desk clerks or domestic workers. they said that her team as they frequently did what they say they would say look, you can become free if you want. their activity was very, very important. why don't we hear more about it? after the civil war, they wrote their own histories. they wrote memoirs. they wrote about the underground

the one in new york city, the first one was created by david ruggles, a black abolitionist. but there were white abolitionists involved. these were interracial organizations, and much of the money came from whites. most free black people were rather poor in this period. they had limited economic opportunities. money was raised among them but in new york when they needed money, they went to louis tapppan, a well-to-do new yorker. they went to jared smith, a wealthy upstate abolitionist. so whites were contributing must be and taking -- money and taking part in the activities. but most of the activity is by free blacks, and many of them are totally anonymous or unknown to us. black dock workers, for example. there were fugitives who came in hidden on ships. dock workers would notify local ab lissist activists, okay, send them to the anti-slavery office. blacks who worked at the railroad depots blacks who worked in hotels as cooks or you know domestic workers if a southerner came to the hotel in new york -- as they frequently did with a slave -- they would say, hey look, you kn