A. He wants to protect himself from being a found.
Frederick Douglass was born with the last name Bailey. After Frederick Douglass escaped slavery he married a free African American woman. He changed his last name to Johnson so that he would be allowed to be married (as a slave he would've needed his owner's permission). He chose Johnson because the Johnson's helped him and his wife. Eventually, he decided to change his name again to Douglass after reading "The Lady of the Lake". He added the extra "s" to make it slightly different.
