Douglass, Frederick. “Learning to Read and Write.”
http://learningabe.info/fd_ReadandWrite
Douglass, Frederick. “Secession and War,” in which he recounts advising President Lincoln during the war on recruiting for the African-American brigades.
http://www.learningabe.info/Douglass_article_3.html
Here’s the Wikipedia entry on the famous 54th Massachusetts Brigade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/54th_Massachusetts_Infantry_Regiment
Here’s the lecture of Professor Edna Greene Medford on Abraham Lincoln
https://www.c-span.org/video/?466542-8/abraham-lincoln-emancipation