This is an autobiography written by Frederick Douglass. Yes the same Douglass whose earlier
autobiography “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” was so important in
the time before the Civil War. It begins
in the same place as the “Narrative”, but it tells the story in far greater
detail. It also extends beyond the
“Narrative”, which is not surprising since it was first published ten years
after the earlier work. It therefore
includes several reflections on racism in the North as well as the damage
racism did to Southerners. The last few
sections are somewhat interesting in that they deal with his time becoming a
publisher of an abolitionist periodical along with the reactions of the
Garrisonites that he was associated with as a public speaker. If it were not for the fact that it is more
than 4 times as long as the “Narrative” I would be inclined to replace that
earlier work with this one. Douglass is
a truly remarkable writer. He knows how
to write with style and power without becoming overly grandiose.
The Barnes & Noble Classics edition that I have also has
extracts from some of Douglass’s speeches and letters.
The tale of his time as a slave is similar enough that I
pass over it here and give a more detailed account of the last three chapters. The “Narrative” ended with his first speech
before abolitionists. This was three
years after escaping slavery. He came to
the attention of the organizers of the convention through preaching at his
small Zion Methodist church in New Bedford.
In these chapters he points towards the way slavery
corrupted even the abolitionists.
Initially he was excited to be working for the emancipation of colored
people in America. However, he was
introduced as chattel, as a former piece of property, and always they asked him
just for the facts of his life without any philosophy or moralizing. His friends and companions, like Garrison, asked
him to maintain a bit of the slave in his bearing and speech. This was aimed at preventing Yankees from
thinking he was an impostor. It was also
an attempt to keep him from growing. Just
as his old master, Thomas Auld, had been unable to constrain him, the
Garrisonites were unable to prevent Douglass from growing and improving his
speech, education, and bearing.
Eventually this led to the expected accusations and required the
publishing of the “Narrative”.
However, having pointed out who he ran away from put
Douglass in tremendous danger of being captured as a fugitive slave. This led
to his trip to Great Britain, where he spent 21 months. On the trip to Liverpool he was asked to give
an anti-slavery speech, which prompted a small riot from the Louisianan and Georgian
contingent on board. Then when they got
to Liverpool that same contingent went to the newspapers and drove further
interest in Douglass. In a letter to
Garrison Douglass tells how he was often told “We don’t allow niggers in here” as
he traveled in the northern states, but when he was in Dublin a benefactor took
him to the government buildings and gave him a tour. They ended up eating dinner with the Lord
Mayor of Dublin. Douglass offers the
contrast. In the free and democratic
nation of the United States he was routinely treated as inferior, but in Great
Britain none of the locals seemed to ever think he was inferior merely for the
color of his skin.
While in Great Britain Douglass was embroiled in four
controversies which served to bring him squarely before the British
public. The first was the mob on board
the “Cambria” that was previously mentioned.
The second occurred when the Free Church of Scotland accepted money from
slaveholders. The third occurred when a
number of Southern Evangelicals were in London joining with others to try to
form an Evangelical Alliance that accepted and approved of slavery. The fourth occurred when one of those same
divines, Rev. Dr. Cox, got into a dispute with Douglass at the World’s
Temperance Convention. All of these
helped him to put the moral question before the British people. Then when Douglass started back to the United
States he was, again, denied the right to access the Saloon on board the
steamship and the cabin he was to have used was given to another. This led to a final letter to the London
Times and promptly to Cunard forbidding future discrimination on Cunard
steamships.
Douglass also received funding to start his own periodical
from some of his friends in Great Britain.
However, on returning to Boston he encountered an unexpected
resistance. His friends amongst the
Garrisonite abolitionists counseled him not to start a paper at all. They were sure that it would fail, as other
black papers had, and they felt it would interfere with his work on the lecture
circuit. They also felt it was deeply
absurd for a man only nine years free of slavery to become the editor of a
paper. This last is a point that
resonates even today, for though most people acknowledge the equality of all
people it is still not uncommon to hear claims that black folks are inherently
inferior to white folks. This
fundamentally racist attitude was then held even by abolitionists and it is
even now, over a hundred and fifty years later, to be found amongst the
populace.
Douglass moved to Rochester in western New York. He published his paper with plenty of success
for eight years when this biography came out.
However, having gotten out from under Garrison’s wing he slowly
abandoned certain of Garrison’s positions.
Garrison was for the dissolution of the Union so that the slave states
would no longer be connected to the free states and he didn’t approve of using
the franchise to push for more equality before the law. After four years Douglass switched sides on
both of these questions. Freeing the
slaves was precisely a matter to be decided by voting, and it was not
particularly necessary for the abolition of slavery.
The last chapter also includes a number of anecdotes
illustrating just how racist even the northern states were back in the 1850’s.
As I noted at the beginning of this review, this is an
excellent book written by a man that is one of the finest writers and speakers
I have encountered. His work is worth
studying for his tremendous insight and for his masterly rhetoric. It is also worth reading as a reminder that
adversity can be overcome, and a person can rise from the very lowest station
to one of the highest with the aid of good hearted people if they will strive. It is also a call for all people, even now,
to work for justice and equality.
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