Frederick Douglass: American Prophet

 
I recently completed a biography on Frederick Douglass. 

When I completed my first economics course in graduate school, I remember thinking that this course really should have been part of my secondary education. And after finishing this biography, I felt the same way.

I studied 19th century history in college so I knew of Frederick Douglass. In hindsight, I studied around him, but never studied his life. In the middle of the pandemic, I picked up his first biography at a bookstore, but never cracked it open. 

I am reminded of the old saying “Those who do know know history are doomed to repeat it.” Frederick Douglass’ story is one we should all know. Perhaps if we knew his story, we could stop repeating the same mistakes of our past.

Frederick Douglass was born enslaved on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the 18-teens. His exact birth date was never recorded - an omission that he spent his lifetime trying to ascertain. He did not know his father and his mother died when he was very young. His father was likely one of the men who claimed to own him. 

Unironically, the rape of his mother which led to his birth is the one element that upon his death white people claimed made him exceptional. Post mortem, Douglass’ success was attributed to the ‘white blood’ in his veins. And the ‘white blood’ was there due to the rape of his mother by a man who never publicly claimed him. Ick.

His owner/father sent to Baltimore to work in his daughter’s house. There he learned to read and fell in love with words - both written and spoken. He escaped his bondage while working in Baltimore and lived as a fugitive in Philadelphia and in Boston. During his life in Boston, he attended his first Anti-Slavery Society meeting. Once he was  invited to speak, he catapulted into history.

Frederick Douglass worked closely with historical luminaries such as William Lloyd Garrison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, John Brown, and Susan B. Anthony. He met with Abraham Lincoln.

He was at the center of both ending the enslavement of Black Americans as well as securing  equal rights for women. 

He traveled throughout the United States (including the antebellum South) and Europe spreading the abolitionist message. 

He started doing this work in 1838. 23 years before the Civil War started.

• 27 years before the 13th Amendment was ratified abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude.
• 32 years before the 14th Amendment was ratified which established birthright citizenship.
• 32 years before the 15th Amendment was ratified which gave Black men the right to vote.
• 81 years before the 19th Amendment which led to women being given the right to vote.

At the center of all of these battles were white men saying

“No, I own you.” 

“No. Only I have access to the halls of power.”

“No. Only I know what is best for every body.”

“No. You are not smart enough to make decisions for yourself.”

Until the Emancipation Proclamation, Frederick Douglass was considered a fugitive. And he put his life in mortal danger for 25 years because he knew his cause was just. He knew that slavery was evil. He became the most photographed person in the world.

This isn’t to say that he wasn’t threatened (of course he was), but I just marvel at his ability to put himself front and center knowing the horrors that faced him if he was returned to servitude.

He also lived through the backslide that was the dark days after Reconstruction and the entrenchment of Jim Crow laws. He worked with Ida B. Wells, Booker T Washington and W.E.B. DuBois.

The man was a giant and the epitome of what America is supposed to represent. 

Some of my highlights:

'Lincoln further told Douglass that the bitter inequality Black troops faced was "a necessary concession" for them to serve at all. These were not the sentiments Douglass had hoped to hear; he swallowed the painful reminder that policy had been the handmaiden of racism.'

"It is... not the malignity of enemies alone we have to fear, but the delection from the straight lone of principle by those who are known throughout the world as our special friends."

"Perhaps there is too much past. But remember that all the present rests on all the past. Remember is as good a word as forget."

Douglass indeed was a prophet. His words echo into our present proving that those who do not know our history are doomed to repeat it... and even some of us who claim to know history have room for growth as well.