Frederick Douglass began his life as a slave on a Maryland plantation, yet he learned to read, escaped to freedom, and became one of America's most eloquent campaigners against slavery.

After his escape, which he managed by dressing and acting like a sailor, a likely occupation for a free black, Douglass met up with abolitionists based in New England. He began giving orations, detailing the horrors of slavery. And he wrote a dramatic autobiography, which became not only a major document for the abolitionist cause but a classic of American literature.

Douglass had to flee America for a time to ensure he wouldn't be captured and returned in chains to his former owners. But he would eventually be called a friend by President Lincoln and would be considered a leader of African-Americans in the 19th century.

Frederick Douglass was a towering figure in the 19th century, and his life is an enduring symbol for the struggle against slavery and for equality.

Image: Frederick Douglass/Library of Congress

Traditions linking romance and St. Valentine's Day go back a number of centuries, but the holiday as we know it is firmly rooted in the 1800s. Cards with romantic themes began to be printed for St. Valentine's Day in the 1820s, and when postal rates became standardized in Britain a few decades later the sending of Valentines became popular.

An American Valentine card industry began before the Civil War, and by the end of the 1860s the postal authorities in New York City confirmed that the sending of romantic cards had become a huge fad.

Victorian Valentines actually became something of an art form, and the artist Kate Greenaway became famous for her Valentine designs.

As you prepare for the holiday, read up on the history of St. Valentine's Day and how it came to flourish in the 19th century.

Benjamin Disraeli was a unique figure, a witty novelist who, despite being the ultimate outsider, became a political force in Britain, served as prime minister, and befriended Queen Victoria.

Born into a Jewish family with roots in Italy and the Middle East, Disraeli was always denounced as an upstart, an outsider, and worse. Yet he somehow went from being a writer of novels to leading the Conservative Party, the bastion of wealthy landowners.

For nearly two decades at the height of the British Empire the leadership of the nation passed back and forth between two amazing and eccentric personalities, Disraeli, and his constant rival, William Ewart Gladstone.

With his wit and impressive writing skills, Disraeli knew how to flatter Queen Victoria. His letters utterly charmed her, and she came to regard him with real affection while he served as prime minister.

When Benjamin Disraeli, disheartened by a change in his political fortunes, fell ill and died, the queen, it was reported, was heartbroken.

Illustration: Benjamin Disraeli/Library of Congress

The film "Creation," which gets wide release in the United States on January 29, relates the crisis faced by Charles Darwin while writing his landmark book, On the Origin of Species. The movie is based on a book written by Darwin's great-great grandson, Randal Keynes, who discovered some of his ancestor's letters while helping to restore the great naturalist's family home.

Keynes has been doing a number of interviews about Darwin, his book, and the film. In the Los Angeles Times Keynes talked about discovering the letters as well as other family documents. In an audio interview with NPR (with a transcript) he discusses Darwin's relationship with his daughter, whose death affected him profoundly.

The film portrays the young Darwin, dramatizing some of scientist's voyage aboard H.M.S. Beagle. And the heart of the movie is the depiction of the marriage of Charles and Emma Darwin, who had quite different ideas about religion. As noted in the New York Times review of the film, "Creation" languished without a distributor in the United States because, remarkably, evolution is a controversial subject in America 150 years after the publication of On the Origin of Species.

Image: Charles Darwin/Library of Congress