February is Black History Month, and against all likelihood, the iconic 19th Century Abolitionist Frederick Douglass is currently enjoying a wave of unprecedented popularity. Even less likely, the buzz is apparently due to the newly sworn-in US President’s remarks about Douglass. This despite that, according to a White House staffer, the President knew virtually nothing about this historically significant leader, other than that he is “being recognized more and more.”
So let’s follow the trend and delve into this Frederick Douglass, who was he? Well for starters, Douglass is considered to be the most prominent black Republican statesman in American history. Yes, he was Republican, as was Abraham Lincoln. It’s interesting the changes in the Republican Party in the last century and a half.
Douglass was born into slavery in 1818 in Maryland. His mother was Harriet Bailey, an enslaved woman there. He barely knew his mother as they were soon separated, and he never knew who his father was, but had been told it was the plantation’s master. By age six he was put to work, given no shoes nor even pants, whether winter or summer, he only had a loose rough shirt that hung to his knees. He was fed boiled cornmeal which they called mush. He witnessed many terrifying beatings of slaves, including his relatives. An aunt was once tied to a hook on the wall and beaten fiercely, while the young boy hid in the closet.
At age 12, Frederick was sent to help at the home of Hugh and Sophia Auld in Baltimore. This is when he first began to read. Sophia Auld taught him the alphabet and he learned quickly until her husband discovered the lessons and forbid them, stating that reading would only encourage slaves to desire freedom. Frederick later recalled the scolding as his first exposure to anti-slavery reasoning. Nevertheless, he persisted in learning to read, finding newspapers, the bible or school primers borrowed from white children. One of his favorite books from that time was The Colombian Orator, an anthology of essays on human rights written for school children.
At about age 16, Frederick Douglass was hired out to a plantation. There he began teach other enslaved people to read, using the New Testament, at a weekly Sunday school. The interest in learning to read was so great sometimes more than 40 slaves would come. This lasted several months, until nearby plantation owners discovered what was happening and became outraged. One Sunday morning they burst in on the gathering, armed with clubs and put an end to the lessons.
In 1833, Thomas Auld sent Douglass to work for a farmer who had a reputation as a "slave-breaker." He whipped Douglass repeatedly and almost broke his spirit; however the teenager rebelled, finally fighting back. This put an end to the beatings permanently and he was soon sent back to Baltimore.
Four years later Douglass was in Baltimore when he met a free black woman named Anna Murray. She was older than Frederick and she inspired him to seek his own freedom. In time he fell in love with her.
By 1838, Douglass had finally escaped after several unsuccessful attempts. Anna managed to obtain a sailor's uniform and some identification papers belonging to a free black seaman. With these and some money from Anna, he boarded trains and crossed rivers on ferries. Eventually he went by steamboat along the Delaware River further northeast to the "Quaker City" of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an anti-slavery stronghold, and continued to the safe house of noted abolitionist David Ruggles in New York City. His entire journey to freedom took less than 24 hours. He sent for Anna and they were married.
Frederick Douglass could be considered a criminal, as he was a runaway slave, he might have been seen as an undocumented alien. But his eloquence, gentle nature, intelligence and persistence carried the day. Today he is known as an author, an activist, an abolitionist and orator. He was a preacher in the African-Methodist-Episcopal (AME) church and in time was appointed to be the US Ambassador to Haiti.
Here’s the gist: Frederick Douglass was great and he remains a hero. His voice could not be silenced. He despised the system of slavery and condemned slave owners as hypocritical Christians. He met with President Lincoln multiple times to argue his points. His own accomplishments and demeanor were evidence enough that slaves, if freed, could in fact thrive. This was in complete opposition to most arguments made at the time.
He once said, “The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery.” Another noteworthy quote: “No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.”
He understood that those in power will always fight against democracy, noting that a citizen’s duty is to fight for justice. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted.”
He advocated for freedom and the right to vote not only for African Americans, but also women, Native Americans and all immigrants. He supported freedom of speech, proclaiming, “To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.”
There is of course a sour irony to the focus on Frederick Douglass and other Black leaders during February. Why do we have only a single month set aside for Black History? The man was dignified and defiant, let us emulate his determination and strength in our own fights for justice, in every month of the year.
