How Is Frederick Douglass the Father of the Civil Rights Movement?

Frederick Douglass's skills as a writer an orator made him a face of the abolitionist movement and went on to help inform and inspire the Civil Rights movement. Learn more about Douglass in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff. Lauren Vogelbaum here. More than two centuries after
the birth of Frederick Douglas, few people have come close
to matching his skills as both an orator and an
agent of change. We spoke earlier this year with Pelham McDaniels,
the Third, who was then the curator of African American

(00:23):
Collections at Emory University's Rose Library and has since passed away.
McDaniel said, why we should remember Douglas is because of
what he represents to us even today, his ability to
not only speak truth to power, but do so in
such an eloquent way that he would challenge anyone who
stands against him. Indeed, the power of Douglas's voice contributed

(00:46):
greatly to the end of slavery, expansion of the right
to vote, and the general push towards equal rights for
all that still continues. So where did Douglas get that power?
He was born in slave saved in eighteen eighteen on
the coast of Maryland, under the name Frederick Bailey. He
recognized the value of literacy from an early age, and

(01:07):
so he taught himself to read and write. He was
hired out from ages eight to fifteen as a body
servant or valet, and rebelled when his owner sent him
to work in the fields. After a failed escape effort,
he was sent back to Baltimore, where he connected with
Anna Murray, a free black woman. She helped him coordinate
his escape and funded his train ticket, and as a result,
he was able to make a break for New York

(01:29):
City dressed as a sailor, where he was technically free
but a fugitive done the less. Frederick married Anna, and
the pair took the surname Douglas in an effort to
keep from being captured. They relocated to Bedford, Massachusetts, and
eventually had five children. But Douglas's drive for freedom didn't
end with his own. He began attending abolitionist meetings, where

(01:50):
he quickly gained a reputation as a gifted speaker and writer,
and toured on behalf of the Massachusetts Anti Slavery Society. Ironically,
some of these same abolitionist thought him too well versed
and educated to have ever been enslaved. To prove his legitimacy,
in eighteen forty five, he published the first of three tones,
narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas. The ensuing publicity

(02:13):
bade him a target, however, and he had to spend
time in Europe to prevent being re enslaved. His freedom
was eventually bought on his behalf by abolitionists, and he
moved with his family to Rochester, New York to enjoy
free life. Douglas continued speaking on behalf of the abolition
of slavery, but also took an interest in women's rights.
Though he thought that women suffrage should come in time,

(02:36):
McDaniel said he believed that there should be equality across
the board. One of the things he argued against was
women getting the right to vote first. By excluding black
men from this equation, it put black men and women
in great danger. And while some abolitionists decried the United
States Constitution as being pro slavery, Douglas eventually expressed that

(02:57):
it wasn't that, but that it had been perhaps purposefully
misinterpreted by people who stood to benefit. In his most
famous speech, what to the Slave is fourth of July,
he said, what have I or those I represent to
do with your national independence? Are the great principles of
political freedom and of natural justice embodied? And that Declaration

(03:19):
of Independence extended to US. McDaniels explained he saw there
was more to the Constitution than was gleaned. He also
saw the elements of it that allowed for individuals in
the country to be free and to pursue the possibilities.
Douglas argued that the idea of universal human brotherhood, that
all were created equal, was rooted in Christianity in the Bible.

(03:42):
Although Douglas disagreed with the militant ideals of fellow abolitionist
John Brown, he eventually came to see that federal military intervention,
realized in the form of the devastating Civil War, would
be necessary to eradicate slavery. He aggressively worked to influence
the Republican Party, which featured a particularly famous member in
President Abraham Lincoln, to prevent slaveries spread into new territories,

(04:06):
to attack laws the protected slaveholders, and to generally encourage abolitionism.
He eventually called Lincoln a friend and was integral in
the process of passing the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution,
which abolished slavery. The fourteenth and fifteen Amendments eventually followed,
which respectively granted national birthright citizenship and established voting rights

(04:27):
regardless of race, previous condition of servitude, and skin color.
In eighteen seventy two, Douglas and his wife, Anna moved
to Washington, d c. To be nearer to a few
of their children and to continue his activism. He went
on to hold a number of prestigious federal positions under
five different presidents, continued his public speaking engagements, and published

(04:49):
his third and final memoir, The Life and Times of
Frederick Douglas. It was particularly resident because it acknowledged the
continuing inequalities in America, despite abolition and weakons diduction. In
eighteen eighty two, Anna died, and in eighteen eighty four
Douglas remarried Helen Pitts, a suffragist who was twenty years
as junior and was white. The marriage was not looked

(05:12):
upon favorably by many, but the couple remained wed until
his death from a heart attack in eighteen ninety five
at age seventy seven, more than a hundred years after
his passing. Douglas and his work are regularly celebrated as
having paved the way for hundreds of other civil rights activists.
Douglas didn't know his true date of birth, so he
selected February fourteenth. Following his death, the date became known

(05:36):
as Douglas Day, and related celebrations continue. Douglas's birth date
is one of the reasons that February is celebrated as
Black History Month. McDaniels explained that Douglas was the most
photographed American of the nineteenth century of any skin color,
and his was an image of masculinity in African American possibility.

(05:56):
McDaniels said that was one of the challenges of his
time time to find ways to represent the humanity of
people who aspired to be free and came from the
same circumstances. If he's criticized for anything, it's that he
presents in his speeches as sensational and romantic. But even
as we reflect on his life, we need to understand
that he was essentially an ambassador for a small nation

(06:18):
within a nation. Today's episode was written by Leo Hoyt
and produced by Tyler Klang. For more on this and
lots of other topics, visit how Stuff works dot com.
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