See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! The Liberator, January 30, 1846 He returned home to. 971 pages, LOA books are distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House. Albert Barnes but uttered what the common sense of every man at all observant of the actual state of the case will receive as truth, when he declared that There is no power out of the church that could sustain slavery an hour, if it were not sustained in it.. This inexpensive compilation of his speeches adds vital detail to the portrait of a great historical figure. The sunlight that brought life and healing to Of this fundamental work, this day is the anniversary. Anti-Irish and German-Catholic prejudice was pervasive. But now is the time, the important time. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slaves point of view. Read by Ava Yuninger, Music by Ava Yuninger. What Is My Duty as an Anti-Slavery Voter? All the political, social and literary forces around us tend to unificationThe American people have their prejudices, but they have their other qualities as well. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie. We cannot afford to set up for ourselves a separate political party or adopt for ourselves a political creed apart from the rest of our fellow citizens. But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassment. whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. All Rights Reserved. These rules are well established. He argued that freedom would be empty if former slaves were not guaranteed the rights and protections of American citizens. Africa is too far off, even if we desired to go there, which we do not. For more than five decades, from the antebellum period through the Civil War and Reconstruction and into the Gilded Age, Douglass used his voice and wielded his pen in support of abolition and emancipation, equal rights and human dignity. Fighting Rebels With Only One Hand No political figure not even Abraham Lincoln talked that way about the US in the mid to late 19th century. The historian Jill Lepore called it one of the most important and least-read speeches in American political history. And the historian Andrew Roth said Douglass address is one of the earliest and still most eloquent tributes to the beauty of Americas ever-expanding definition of the We in We the people.. Woman and the Ballot Douglass Monthly, October 1859 But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustrious Fathers of this Republic. The ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. Now, I hold that there is but one way of wisely disposing of the colored race, and that is to do them right and justice. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. 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. Chinese immigrants were being attacked and lynched by mobs, and by 1882 the US Congress would pass the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first significant law restricting immigration in the US. Douglass Monthly, August 1859 An Address The Negro Exodus from the Gulf States: A Paper Lynn, Massachusetts, October 1841 They that can, may; I cannot. There is blasphemy in the thought. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man, (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. Frederick Douglass Paper, September 10, 1852 Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn, Samuel J. Many White Americans believed Black people were genetically inferior. This home government, you know, although a considerable distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children, such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgment, it deemed wise, right and proper. Yea! Do Not Send Back the Fugitive: An Address Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. Douglass Monthly, April 1863 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 Frederick Douglass Paper, February 24, 1854 Capt John Brown Not Insane And yet he still believed that we could, and would, do better. I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. American Prejudice and Southern Religion: An Address 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. Science has since confirmed that race is a biological fiction there is only one human race, homo sapiens. Frederick Douglass Paper, September 4, 1851 The Republican PartyOur Position Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. The New National Era, September 8, 1870 How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? Frederick Douglass published three autobiographies. Space is comparatively annihilated. The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear butoneside; andthatside, is the side of the oppressor. Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings (The Library of Black America series): Foner, Philip S., Taylor, Yuval: 9781556523526: Amazon.com: Books Books History Americas Buy new: $33.40 List Price: $35.00 Details Save: $1.60 (5%) FREE Returns FREE delivery Thursday, December 15 Select delivery location Your lawmakers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. Slavery, Freedom, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act: An Address Change). The Industrial College While drawing encouragement from the Declaration of Independence, the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. or is it in the temple? Douglass responds to the Emancipation Proclamation and calls for the Black man to be allowed to fight in the war. The Union and How to Save It Americans! Your President, your Secretary of State, ourlords,nobles, and ecclesiastics, enforce, as a duty you owe to your free and glorious country, and to your God, that you do this accursed thing. The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. Heat and sorrow have nearly consumed their strength; suddenly you hear a quick snap, like the discharge of a rifle; the fetters clank, and the chain rattles simultaneously; your ears are saluted with a scream, that seems to have torn its way to the center of your soul! 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. To William Lloyd Garrison They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory. will be found by Americans. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. 2023 Accessible Archives Inc.. All Rights Reserved. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth! To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. A citizenship candidate holds a flag during a naturalization ceremony in New York City on September 17, 2019. The Church and Pejudice In the language of Isaiah, the American church might be well addressed, Bring no more vain ablations; incense is an abomination unto me: the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity even the solemn meeting. In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. Is that a question for Republicans? The fiat of the Almighty, Let there be Light, has not yet spent its force. The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. In glaring violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrap the defenseless, and in diabolical intent, this Fugitive Slave Law stands alone in the annals of tyrannical legislation. Updated In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). Correspondence relates to personal and financial matters, as well as to Hunter's various activities to improve African American education and economic well-being, particularly in the South. The speech is called Composite Nation and in it Douglass tackles a question that lurks behind many of the current political debates in the US: Is the country better off having a multitude of races, ethnic groups and religious beliefs? A series of postwar amendments sought to make some of these tremendous changes. It might seem far-fetched, but weve already seen the alternatives in the January 6 insurrection and the mounting sense of dread many Americans now feel about the future. Most noteable is a transcription of Frederick Douglass' speech given at the 2nd Annual It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers yourUnion. Douglass vision of America as a multi-hued beacon of global liberty still looms ahead of us like a rhetorical North Star. Atlantic Monthly, December 1866 Exeter, England, August 28, 1846 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? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in February 1818. But Ill start by saying this. The Inaugural Address 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. on all numbered volumes in the Yale Works of Samuel Johnson series But, to proceed. The first autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, catapulted him to fame and invigorated the abolitionist movement. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. 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. In July 1892, Douglass published Lynch Law in the South in the North American Review, a newspaper he edited later in life. We shall mold them all, each after his kind, into Americans. 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. Douglass believed that on a day when white Americans What the Black Man Wants. , that banquet was attended by prominent African-American professional men in celebration of the twenty-first anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. Mark them! Country, Conscience, and the Anti-Slavery Cause: An Address When the Negro is degraded and ignorant he conforms to a popular standard of what a negro should be. Use this downloadable discussion guide as a starting point for further reflection and activism. The Proclamation and a Negro Army: An Address The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The incoming correspondence has been arranged into letters pertaining to Hunter's business or community activities and letters relating to Hunter's personal life. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was a pivotal figure in the decades of struggle leading up to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. 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. with discount code Y23SAM through 4/16/2023. To Our Oppressed Countrymen The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. Douglass Monthly, August 1863 Hingham, Massachusetts, November 4, 1841 Removal to any of the territories is out of the question. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. His speeches continued to agitate for racial equality and women's rights. Boston, Massachusetts, December 7, 1869 Keep listening to people who say democracy cant work, and it wont. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. Boston, Massachusetts, January 26, 1865 Correspondence, scrapbooks of clippings, print material such as articles and reports, and other papers, all dating from the Civil War into the first few decades of the 20th century. Discovery Company. But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. The Writings and Speeches Subseries includes addresses given by Hunter and others. A Warner Bros. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. On Robert Burns and Scotland: An Address What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? One in five Medal of Honor recipients have been immigrants. Republican Party leaders now describe the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol as legitimate political discourse.. They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world for Christianity. The negro meets no resistance when on a downward course. What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? When you can point to any such laws, in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. Cast one glance, if you please, upon that young mother, whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the brow of the babe in her arms. That's the life of Frederick Douglass." Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, December 11, 1889 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. If any man in this assembly thinks differently from me in this matter, and feels able to disprove my statements, I will gladly confront him at any suitable time and place he may select. The President of Frederick Douglass Republicans of Tarrant County Reading List is found below: "Nothing To Lose, Everything To Gain"by Kathy To My Old Master All Rights Reserved. But, such is not the state of the case. Frederick Douglass Paper, October 23, 1851 Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. One is struck with the difference between the attitude of the American church towards the anti-slavery movement, and that occupied by the churches in England towards a similar movement in that country. New York, New York, May 11, 1853 A Trip to Hayti The North Star, March 16, 1849 Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? When he shakes off his rags and wretchedness and presumes to be a man, and a man among men, he contradicts this popular standard and becomes an offense to his surroundings. In this 1894 speech, Douglass spoke plainly about the use of lynching to terrorize Black Americans and prevent them from building social or political power. Marshal for D.C. (1877-1881), Recorder of Deeds for D.C. 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