Hezekiah Ford Douglas (1831-1865) was born a slave in Virginia. He escaped from bondage in 1846, settled in Cleveland, and obtained employment as a barber. Although unlettered, he worked hard to educate himself, and his later speeches indicate that he acquired a remarkable mastery of the Bible, classical literature, history, drama, and poetry. Despite his youth, Douglas quickly made a name for himself in the Ohio black community. His handsome appearance and exceptional oratorical talents, which he displayed at black state conventions during the early 1850s, also attracted attention among white abolitionists.

Douglas's hatred of American slavery and racial prejudice and his perception that the Constitution was a proslavery document soon convinced him that blacks own no allegiance to the United States . By 1852 he was a confirmed emigrationist. He played an influential role at the 1854 and 1856 meetings of the National Emigration Convention in Cleveland. At the latter gathering, he was appointed to the movement's National Board of Commissioners. Between the two sessions, Douglas moved to Chicago, where he helped revitalize Illinois's black state convention movement and led protests against the state's Black Laws. In early 1856, he became coproprietor of the Provinical Freeman Chatham. His earlier work as a Cleveland subscription agent for Henry Bibb's Voice of the Fugitive had convinced him that black success in Canada West would help uproot the institution of slavery. Douglas viewed this as a chance to contribute articles and toured Canada West and the northern United States to enlist new subscribers. He viewed the separate black institutions he found in Canada West as unnecessary and urged black Canadians to became full and loyal British citizens, a postition that made him unpopular among some black Canadians.

A disillusioned Douglas returned to Chicago in late 1858 and, within a few months, become an agent of Congressman Francis P. Blair's Central American Land Company, which promoted black settlement on the isthmus. After Blair's scheme failed, Douglas returned to antislavery lecturing. At the invitation of the abolitionist Parker Pillsbury, he made an extensive antislavery lecture tour of New England in 1860, much of it as a lecturing agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. His speeches during this tour demonstrated a more militant tone and advocated violent overtrow of slavery. In January 1861, Douglas returned to Chicago as the midwestern agent for James Redpath's Haitian Emigration Bureau. The Civil War interrupted his Haitian efforts and, enthused by this prospect for a violent end to slavery, he enlisted in the Ninety-fifth Regiment of Illinois Infantry Volunteers in July 1862.

The light-skinned Douglas was one of only a few blacks to serve in a white regiment during the war. In 1863 he was authorized to raise an independant black company. It was mustered in during early 1865, saw only limited fighting, and was mustered out within a few months. Douglas is believed to have been the only black officer to lead troops into combat during the war. After being mustered out, Douglas attempted to establish a restaurant in Atchison, Kansas, but weakened by bouts with malaria contracted during the war, he died in November 1865.