Frederick Douglass

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Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14[1], 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American abolitionist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer. Called "The Sage of Anacostia" and "The Lion of Anacostia," Douglass was among the most prominent African-Americans of his time, and one of the most influential lecturers and authors in American history. One of his favorite quotations is: "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."

Life as a slave

Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Talbot County, Maryland near Hillsborough, 12 miles from Easton. He was separated from his mother, Harriet Bailey, when he was still an infant. A mother and her children were often separated. Douglass always remembered the times she walked 12 miles at night to spend half an hour with him. He later wrote that "a true mother's heart was hers" and "I take few steps in life without feeling her presence." She died when Douglass was nine years old. Douglass never knew anything about the identity of his father, other than that he was a white man, although some believe that his master, Captain Aaron Anthony, was his father. When Anthony died, Douglass was given to Mrs. Lucretia Auld, wife of Captain Thomas Auld; the young man was sent to Baltimore to serve the Captain's brother, Hugh Auld.

Early education

When Douglass was twelve, Hugh Auld's wife, Sophia, broke the law by teaching him to read. Mr. Auld disapproved, saying that if a slave learns to read, he would become dissatisfied with his condition and desire freedom; Douglass later referred to this as the first anti-abolitionist speech he had ever heard. Another turning point was when he purchased a copy of the book The Columbian Orator: Containing a Variety of Original and Selected Pieces Together With Rules, Which Are Calculated to Improve Youth and Others, in the Ornamental and useful art of eloquence by Caleb Bingham, A. M. (ISBN 0814713238). It was the first book he ever owned. Douglass studied and memorized classic speeches by the Roman orator Cicero in order to find his own voice.

During this period, Douglass became attached to a deeply religious man known to us as "Uncle Lawson", who became a spiritual father to Douglass. Young Douglass took every opportunity to be with Lawson, who told him that it was possible for him to be delivered from bondage. Douglass fervently prayed to God that it so transpire. Slave owners appreciated preachers who taught that slavery was the benevolent creation of God and that faithful and obedient slaves would be rewarded in heaven. This was not how Douglass interpreted Christianity. For him it meant the equality of all people before God and deliverance from bondage in this life. Religion taught Douglass to value himself, love others, and work to achieve freedom. Christianity's ideals helped inspire his work and guide his actions.

The fight with Edward Covey

By 1834, Douglass was back on the farm in Talbot County. Gone were his opportunities to learn among the streets and wharfs of Fells Point in Baltimore. Now began the great test of Douglass' young life. Hugh Auld rented Douglass out to a farmer named Edward Covey, a "slave breaker" of extraordinary cruelty. Sixteen-year-old Douglass was indeed nearly broken psychologically by his ordeal under Covey, but finally rebelled against the beatings and fought back. Covey lost out on a confrontation with Douglass and never tried to beat him again. This incident was kept under wraps as Covey was ashamed of his defeat.

Escape to freedom

By 1837, Douglass was back in Fells Point and had joined the East Baltimore Mental Improvement Society, a debating club of free blacks. Douglass was the only slave there. Through the society, he met a free African-American housekeeper, Anna Murray. Anna Murray sold a poster bed to buy sailor's papers needed for Frederick Douglass' escape. On September 3, 1838 Douglass boarded a train in Baltimore on his way to freedom from slavery, dressed in a sailor's uniform and carrying identification papers provided by a free black seaman. Though he did not match the physical description in the papers, the conductor gave them only a casual glance. From Baltimore, Douglass made his way to Wilmington, Delaware, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to New York City. and finally to New Bedford, Massachusetts. This was by no means one of the most creative escapes of a slave; Henry "Box" Brown mailed himself (as a parcel) from Virginia to Philadelphia in a journey taking 26 hours.

Career

Douglass continued reading. He joined various organizations in New Bedford, including a black church. He regularly attended Abolitionist meetings. He subscribed to William Lloyd Garrison's weekly journal, the Liberator, and in 1841, he heard Garrison speak at the Bristol Anti-Slavery Society's annual meeting. Douglass was inspired by Garrison, later stating, "no face and form ever impressed me with such sentiments (the hatred of slavery) as did those of William Lloyd Garrison." Garrison was likewise impressed with Douglass, and mentioned him in the Liberator.

Several days later, Douglass gave his first speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society's annual convention in Nantucket Island. Twenty-three years old at the time, Douglass later said that his legs were shaking. He conquered his nervousness and gave an eloquent speech about his life as a slave.

In 1843, Douglass participated in the American Anti-Slavery Society's Hundred Conventions project, a six month tour of meeting halls throughout the east and middle west of the United States. He participated in the Seneca Falls Convention, the birthplace of the American feminist movement, and was a signatory of its Declaration of Sentiments.

Douglass later became the publisher of a series of newspapers: "The North Star", "Frederick Douglass Weekly", "Frederick Douglass' Paper", "Douglass' Monthly" and "New National Era". The motto of "The North Star" was "Right is of no sex—Truth is of no color—God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren".

Douglass' work spanned the years prior to and during the Civil War. He was acquainted with the radical abolitionist Captain John Brown but did not approve of Brown's plan to start an armed slave revolt. Douglass believed that the Harpers Ferry attack on federal property would enrage the American public.

Douglass conferred with President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 on the treatment of black soldiers, and with President Andrew Johnson on the subject of black suffrage. His early collaborators were the white abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips. In the early 1850's, however, Douglass split with the Garrisonians over the issue of the United States Constitution.

Autobiography

Douglass' most well-known work is his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which was published in 1845. Critics frequently attacked the book as inauthentic, not believing that a black man could possibly have produced so eloquent a piece of literature. The book was an immediate bestseller and received overwhelmingly positive critical reviews. Within three years of its publication, it had been reprinted nine times with 11,000 copies circulating in the United States; it was also translated into the French and Dutch languages.

The book's success had an unfortunate side effect: his friends and mentors feared that the publicity would draw the attention of his ex-owner, Hugh Auld, who could try to get his "property" back. They encouraged him to go on a tour in Ireland, as many other ex-slaves had done in the past. He set sail on the Cambria for Liverpool on August 16, 1845, and arrived in Ireland when the Irish famine was just beginning.

Travels to Europe

Douglass spent two years in the British Isles and gave several lectures, mainly in Protestant churches. He remarked that there he was treated not "as a color, but as a man."

He met and befriended the Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell. When Douglass visited Scotland, the members of the Free Church of Scotland, whom he had criticized for accepting money from US slave-owners, demonstrated against him with placards that read "Send back the nigger."

Douglass had five children; two of them, Charles and Rossetta, helped produce his newspapers.

The North Star Problem

In 1847 Douglass founded a New York Paper called 'The North Star.' One evening, a group of men burst into the office and started to approach menacingly toward one of the printing presses, but Douglass beat them to it. "You can smash this place and I'll open my paper elsewhere. Stop me, and others will take my place. You came here to destroy my paper? Let me help you." Douglass smashed the printing press himself. "You can smash machines, but you can't smash ideas." Ashamed, the men filtered out.

The Civil War

In 1851, Douglass merged the North Star with Gerrit Smith's Liberty Party Paper to form Frederick Douglass' Paper, which was published until 1860. Douglass came to agree with Smith and Lysander Spooner that the United States Constitution is an anti-slavery document, reversing his earlier belief that it was pro-slavery, a view he had shared with William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison had publicly demonstrated his opinion of the Constitution by burning copies of it. Douglass' change of position on the Constitution was one of the most notable incidents of a division that emerged in the abolitionist movement after the publication of Spooner's book The Unconstitutionality of Slavery in 1846. This shift in opinion, as well as some other political differences, create a rift between Douglass and Garrison. Douglass further angered Garrison by saying that the Constitution could and should be used as an instrument in the fight against slavery. With this, Douglass began to assert his independence in the Garrisonians. Garrison saw the North Star as being in competition with the National Anti-Slavery Standard and Marius Robinson's Anti-slavery Bugle.

In March 1860, Annie, Douglass' youngest daughter, died at Rochester, New York, while he was still in England. Douglass returned from England the following month, taking the route through Canada to avoid detection.

By the time of the Civil War, Douglass was one of the most famous black men in the country, known for his oratories on the condition of the black race, and other issues such as women's rights.

The Reconstruction era

After the Civil War, Douglass held a number of important political positions. He served as President of the failed Reconstruction-era Freedman's Savings Bank; as marshal of the District of Columbia; as minister-resident and consul-general to the Republic of Haiti; and as chargé d'affaires for Santo Domingo. After two years, he resigned his ambassadorship due to disagreements with U.S. government policy. In 1872, he moved to Washington, D.C after his house on South Avenue in Rochester, New York burned down — arson was suspected. Also lost was a complete issue of The North Star.

In 1868, Douglass supported the presidential campaign of Ulysses S. Grant. The Klan Act and the Enforcement Act were signed into law by President Grant. Grant used their provisions vigorously, suspending habeas corpus in South Carolina and sending troops there and into other states; under his leadership, over 5,000 arrests were made and the Ku Klux Klan was dealt a serious blow.

Grant's vigor in disrupting the Klan made him unpopular among many whites, but Frederick Douglass praised him. An associate of Douglass wrote of Grant that African-Americans "will ever cherish a grateful remembrance of his name, fame and great services." The conflict was not limited to the KKK. Racist groups like the Knights of the White Camellia and the White League also played a part.

Later life

In 1877, Frederick Douglass purchased his final home in Washington D.C., on the banks of the Anacostia River. He named it Cedar Hill (also spelled CedarHill). He expanded the house from 14 to 21 rooms and included a china closet. One year later, Douglass expanded his property to 15 acres (61,000 m²), with the purchase of adjoining lots. The home is now the location of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.

After the disappointments of Reconstruction, many African Americans called Exodusters moved to Kansas to form all-black towns. Douglass spoke out against the movement, urging blacks to stick it out. He was condemned and booed by black audiences.

In 1881, Douglass was appointed Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia. His wife (Anna Murray Douglas) died in 1882, leaving him in a state of depression. His association with the activist Ida B. Wells brought meaning back into his life. In 1884, Douglass married Helen Pitts, a white feminist from Honeoye, New York. Pitts was the daughter of Gideon Pitts, Jr., an abolitionist colleague and friend of Douglass. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College (at that time Mount Holyoke Female Seminary), Pitts had worked on a radical feminist publication named Alpha while living in Washington, D.C..

Frederick and Helen Pitts Douglass faced a storm of controversy as a result of their marriage. She was a white woman and nearly 20 years younger than he. Both families recoiled; hers stopped speaking to her; his was bruised, as they felt his marriage was a repudiation of their mother. But individualist feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton congratulated the two [2].

The new couple traveled to England, France, Italy, Egypt and Greece from 1886 to 1887.

In later life, Douglass determined to ascertain his birthday. He was born in February of 1817 by his own calculations, but historians have found a record indicating his birth in February of 1818.

In 1892 the Haitian government appointed Douglass as its commissioner to the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. He spoke for Irish Home Rule and on the efforts of Charles Stewart Parnell. He briefly revisited Ireland in 1886.

Death

On February 20, 1895, Douglass attended a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C.. During that meeting, he was brought to the platform and given a standing ovation by the audience.

Shortly after he returned home, Frederick Douglass died of a massive heart attack or stroke in his adopted hometown of Washington D.C.. He is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, NY.

See also

  • List of African-American abolitionists
  • Slave narrative
  • African American literature
  • Frederick Douglass and Self-Made Men
  • Comparison of the books: “A narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas, an American slave” and “Uncle Tom’s cabin”

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  1. ^  His exact birthday is unknown, but he selected February 14 to celebrate it.
  • Parts of this article are drawn from Houston A. Baker, Jr. introduction to the Penguin 1986 edition of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
  • Frederick Douglass [videorecording] / produced by Greystone Communications, Inc. for A&E Network ; executive producers, Craig Haffner and Donna E. Lusitana.; 1997
  • Frederick Douglass: when the lion wrote history [videorecording] / a co-production of ROJA Productions and WETA-TV ; produced and directed by Orlando Bagwell ; narration written by Steve Fayer.; c1994
  • Frederick Douglass, abolitionist editor [videorecording] / a production of Schlessinger Video Productions, a division of Library Video Company ; produced and directed by Rhonda Fabian, Jerry Baber ; script, Amy A. Tiehel
  • Race to freedom [videorecording] : the story of the underground railroad / an Atlantis Films Limited production in association with United Image Entertainment; produced in association with the Family Channel (US), Black Entertainment Television and CTV Television Network, Ltd. ; produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, Ontario Film Development Corporation and with the assistance of Rogers Telefund ; distributed by Xenon Pictures ; executive producers, Seaton McLean, Tim Reid ; co-executive producers, Peter Sussman, Anne Marie La Traverse ; supervising producer, Mary Kahn ; producers, Daphne Ballon, Brian Parker ; directed by Don McBrearty ; teleplay by Diana Braithwaite, Nancy Trites Botkin, Peter Mohan. Publisher Santa Monica, CA : Xenon Pictures, Inc., 2001. Tim Reid as Frederick Douglass.

Books by Douglass

Books on Douglass

  • The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass by Philip S. Foner (1975)

External links

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