There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. His agents were sent into every town and county in Maryland, announcing their arrival, through the papers, and on flaming hand-bills, headed CASH FOR NEGROES. His pointed to other isolated countries of his era whose leaders boosted of their pure blood but lagged behind all other countries in dynamism and prosperity. You must give them all or take from them all. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful thing; but, interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. 688 Pages, 5.50 x 8.25 x 1.36 in, 5 b-w illus. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. But he said that what makes the US the envy of the world is its citizens halting yet ultimately successful struggle to expand the very rights the Founders sought to limit. The President of Frederick Douglass Republicans of Tarrant County Reading List is found below: "Nothing To Lose, Everything To Gain"by Kathy Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. ET, July 4, 2022 . What can we say about Frederick Douglas, the nations most formative abolitionist, on a day set aside to remember his impact on American society and his contributions to the racial justice movement? WebManuscript/Mixed Material Frederick Douglass Papers: Speech, Article, and Book File, 1846-1894; Speeches and Articles by Others. Chaffin, Tom. I intend to make use of you as a weapon with which to assail the system of slaveryas a means of concentrating public attention on the system, and deepening the horror of trafficking in the souls and bodies of men. The American Constitution and the Slave: An Address Douglass Monthly, November 1862 A champion of Americas great writers and timeless works, Library of America guides readers in finding and exploring the exceptional writing that reflects the nations history and culture. But Douglass Composite Nation speech was filled with an audacious hope that belied the pervasive prejudice of his era. In this must-read autobiography published in 1855, Douglass reflects on his life following his legal emancipation in 1846. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. What are some of Frederick Douglasss most famous writings and speeches? This truth is not a doubtful one. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. Amongst Hunter's writings are several pieces intended for a local encyclopedia which detail historic locales and important North Carolina men. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Includes a fourth edition of Lunsford Lane's slave narrative. The Liberator, January 30, 1846 Douglass bold vision of America takes on fresh relevance today as PBS premieres a new documentary about his life by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson. Demands of the Hour There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. The Work of the Future Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. Washington London, England, March 30, 1847 New York, New York, February 6, 1863 I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. What, To The Slave, Is The Fourth Of July? (1852) performed by Nicole Beharie. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. To Our Oppressed Countrymen I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. I cant think of another public figure who took such an unequivocal position like he did.. Douglass wrote. It is called (in contradistinction to the foreign slave-trade) the internal slave trade. It is, probably, called so, too, in order to divert from it the horror with which the foreign slave-trade is contemplated. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. It was a startling idea, much more so, than we, at this distance of time, regard it. appreciated. What Shall Be Done with the Slaves If Emancipated? But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. The Slaveholders Rebellion: An Address He had a difficult family life. Like the raven in the lines of Edgar A. Poe they have learned two words, and these are never more.. S Self-Made Men T The your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. That belief was so ingrained that a politician like Garrett Davis, a Democratic senator from Kentucky, could openly say: I want no Negro government; I want no Mongolian government; I want the government of the White man which our fathers incorporated.. The North Star, January 26, 1849 Like our content? Also included is a draft of a speech given by Frederick Douglass in 1880 at the 2nd Negro State Fair. And nearly half of all Fortune 500 companies including Apple, Google and Amazon were founded by immigrants and their children. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. Republican Party leaders now describe the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol as legitimate political discourse.. These people were called Tories in the days of your fathers; and the appellation, probably, conveyed the same idea that is meant by a more modern, though a somewhat less euphonious term, which we often find in our papers, applied to some of our old politicians. How to End the War Country, Conscience, And The Anti-Slavery Cause (1847) performed by Jonathan Majors. They decided that New York City was not a safe place for Frederick to remain as a fugitive, so they settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts. A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. Lynch Law in All Its Phases, Ida B. Douglass Monthly, September 1862 The ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. The New National Era, April 6, 1871 Frederick Douglass, circa 1880. The President and His Speeches They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. For that reason, only 6% of the nation was eligible to vote in the first presidential election, Goldstone said. This volume brings together twenty of Frederick Douglasss most historically significant speeches on a range of issues, including slavery, abolitionism, civil rights, In a speech made to the nations Black leaders in 1864, Douglass said. Reconstruction Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! And there is undeniably a part of White America that has long been suspicious of democracy. Removal to any of the territories is out of the question. Douglass Monthly, May 1861 With contributions from donors, Library of America preserves and celebrates a vital part of our cultural heritage for generations to come. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. The North Star, March 15, 1850 There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass National Historic Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. Youmay rejoice,Imust mourn. Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. The New National Era, October 27, 1870 The Color Line 688 Pages, 5.50 x 8.25 x 1.36 in, To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. As with rivers so with nations. He bought a printing press and ran his own newspaper. In a very telling sign, the fateful words of Frederick Douglass from a speech he delivered 170 years ago still resonate very much in 2022 as Black people in America continue the fight for the same kind of equality that the legendary abolitionist was demanding back in the mid-19th century. Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. 971 pages, LOA books are distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House. This enormous collection of African American newspapers contains a wealth of information about cultural life and history during the 1800s and is rich with first-hand reports of the major events and issues of the day. WebThe title of Frederick Douglasss first recorded speech, delivered in October 1841, just three years after his own escape from bondage, signaled the driving impulse of his extraordinary career: to lift the veil on American slavery and the white supremacist ideology that justified it. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, lowering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin! After escaping from slavery, Frederick married Anna. They easily adapt themselves to inevitable conditions, and all their tendency is to progress, enlightenment, and to the universal. This inexpensive compilation of his speeches adds vital detail to the portrait of a great historical figure. Frederick Douglass published three autobiographies. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was a pivotal figure in the decades of struggle leading up to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. Self-ElevationRev. As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent African-American professional men in celebration of the twenty-first anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.After the toast provided by former Senator Blanche K. Bruce, Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. There is blasphemy in the thought. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. Douglass lived until 1895, long enough to see much of the promise of his Composite Nation tarnished. Country, Conscience, and the Anti-Slavery Cause: An Address Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. Nicholas Bromell, a historian who appears in the PBS film, says it was routine for even progressive leaders like abolitionists to warn of the hordes of Chinese immigrants coming to America during that era. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. Emancipation Proclaimed The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. Chicago, Illinois, January 2, 1893 Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. What Abraham Lincoln said in respect of the United States is as true of the colored people as of the relations of those States. Yea! Until the public schools shall cease to be caste schools in every part of our country, this discussion will go on. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. or is it in the temple? There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. By that act, Mason and Dixons line has been obliterated; New York has become as Virginia; and the power to hold, hunt, and sell men, women, and children as slaves remains no longer a mere state institution, but is now an institution of the whole United States. O! Boston, Massachusetts, May 30, 1848 Douglass Monthly, August 1863 Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. Specific topics touched on throughout his papers include race relations, voting rights, creating an educational system for African Americans, the temperance movement, reconstruction, African American business and agriculture, the North Carolina Industrial Association, and the North Carolina Negro State Fair. Primary Source Material from 18th & 19th Century Publications, In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. Change). Many didnt think ordinary citizens could be entrusted to lead their own government, and that only those who owned real property should be allowed to vote. Edited by John R. McKivigan, Julie Husband and Heather L. Kaufman. The 13th Amendment (ratified in 1865) abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment (ratified in 1868) granted national birthright citizenship, and the 15th Amendment (ratified in 1870) stated nobody could be denied voting rights on the basis of race, skin color, or previous servitude. here lies the merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our day. Africa is too far off, even if we desired to go there, which we do not. Part of its greatness is due to timing. You invite to your shores fugitives of oppression from abroad, honor them with banquets, greet them with ovations, cheer them, toast them, salute them, protect them, and pour out your money to them like water; but the fugitives from your own land you advertise, hunt, arrest, shoot and kill. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. Douglass Monthly, November 1862 What Is My Duty as an Anti-Slavery Voter? Who can reason on such a proposition? What the Black Man Wants. We have long had in this country, a system of iniquity which possessed the power of blinding the moral perception, stifling the voice of conscience, blunting all human sensibilities and perverting the plainest teaching of the religion we have here professed, a system which John Wesley truly characterized as the sum of all villainies, and one in view of which Thomas Jefferson, himself a slaveholder, said he "trembled for his country" when he reflected "that God is just and that His justice cannot sleep forever." The Inaugural Address There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. Buccola, Nicholas. Author, abolitionist, political activist, and philosopher, Frederick Douglass was a pivotal figure in the decades of struggle leading up to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. The correspondence subseries are: Business/Community Incoming Correspondence, Personal Incoming Correspondence, and Outgoing Correspondence. His. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! He called them ministers of despair and mocked critiques such as You will never make the Negro work without a master, or make him an intelligent voter, or a good and useful citizen.. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. & David Blight continue their discussion on Frederick Douglass by taking a closer look at some of his most renowned speeches. It is not only to break the chains of their bondage and accord to them personal liberty, but it is to admit them to the full and complete enjoyment of civil and political equality. Douglass Monthly, May 1861 He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. David W. Blight is Sterling Professor of American History at Yale University and the author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, which was awarded the Bancroft Prize, the Francis Parkman Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize. The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July oration. In the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. Theres so much! The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. Cuba and the United States The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. Appendix: The Heroic Slave (1853), Phone orders: 1-800-964-5778 , that banquet was attended by prominent African-American professional men in celebration of the twenty-first anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. They inhabit all our Southern States. When he turned eight years old, his slaveowner hired him out to work as a body servant in Baltimore. Discovery Company. The American Apocalypse: An Address Fully appreciating the hardship to be encountered, firmly believing in the right of their cause, honorably inviting the scrutiny of an on-looking world, reverently appealing to heaven to attest their sincerity, soundly comprehending the solemn responsibility they were about to assume, wisely measuring the terrible odds against them, your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberately, under the inspiration of a glorious patriotism, and with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep the corner-stone of the national superstructure, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you. Douglass confronted an even more hostile political climate than democracy advocates face today. They loved their country better than their own private interests; and, though this is not the highest form of human excellence, all will concede that it is a rare virtue, and that when it is exhibited, it ought to command respect. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Groups that include people with different backgrounds and cultures consistently come up with more innovative solutions to problems because theyre not confined to one perspective, research says. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. The Composite Nation speech is a brilliant vision of Americas evolving tapestry in all its colors, shades, and ethnicities, Roth, a scholar-in residence at the Jefferson Educational Society, wrote. Posts and searches for the term civil war have recently spiked on social media and podcasts as the midterm elections approach. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. Douglass Monthly, May 1861 From poetry, novels, and memoirs to journalism, crime writing, and science fiction, the more than 300 volumes published by Library of America are widely recognized as Americas literary canon. In the name of universal justice, to whose laws great States not less than individuals are bound to conform, and the terrible consequences of whose violation are as fixed and certain as the universe itself, we implore you to abolish slavery; and thus place your peace and national welfare upon immutable and everlasting foundations. Douglass lived in an even more brutal era and experienced the worst forms of racial prejudice and American hypocrisy. WebThis is a list of films produced and distributed by HBO Films. We have put together a list of thefollowing speeches that have opened the minds of the American citizens to the uncountable cases of injustices inflicted on the black community through slavery. This vast reservoir of affordable and wisely chosen on-line material makes possible a great leap forward in virtually any program in American history by speeding up the search process and by greatly expanding the range of easily accessible information. Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! To make myself ridiculous, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive.. Austin Woldfolk relations of those States lived in an even more brutal and! Fellow-Citizens ; above your National, tumultuous joy, I shall not presume to dwell at on... Wind, steam, and I defy the presentation of a great historical.. 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