Black History is American History: A Tribute to Frederick Douglass
By M. Todd Manuel
FWIS Contributing Writer
African Americans and their histories were not always celebrated and historically have been hidden as a mainstream white society forbade historians from crediting advancements to Blacks. Any pioneer, leader, or inventor with brown skin who left a notable mark on American society many times has been erased through the historical whitewashing of history. It was for this reason that Carter G. Woodson--the first black Harvard graduate--and Minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the ASNLH (Association for the Study of Negro Life and History) to highlight the achievements and begin documenting the social contributions of African Americans. What started as a week of spotlighting Blacks in the early 1900s grew to involve a month where Americans focused on crediting previously ignored blacks.
The month is essential for all Americans, especially African Americans who may or may not see themselves in American history. And remembering these individuals is critical to identifying the greatness within us all that overcomes past and present obstacles.
No historical figure has done that for me more than Frederick Douglass. As a regular at the Cooper Teen Center as a child, I was a part of the SIMBA rites of passage group for young men in the inner city. One of our events involved going to Washington DC, where we visited the great monuments, the federal reserve, and the white house. Although those places were great to see, visiting Frederick Douglass's home was the experience of a lifetime. I can remember it like it was yesterday. And up until that point, I had never heard of such a person. However, his story inspired me and still does today as a journalist and a humanitarian.
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, but by the time he died, his house stood higher than all the others on the block. He was well respected and influential, and although a black man in the 1800s, he was free and wealthy. Douglass made his name as a famed orator, writer, and abolitionist, using his skills and delivery to pull at the hearts of Americans who had not yet stood up against slavery. As a child, he learned how to read and escaped his plantation to start an international abolitionist newspaper—The North Star--and become a book writer. Gaining international recognition, Frederick built partnerships across the Atlantic Sea that helped to fund his abolitionist works and efforts to lobby American politicians. He learned from great American abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison and William Cooper Nell of Boston, who both had their abolitionist newspapers. After taking a tour and speaking about his experiences overseas, Douglass earned the financial support of wealthy Europeans from England, Ireland, and Scotland, which funded his book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an enslaved American.
However, one of his best and most well-known speeches still holds true today. The speech entitled, 'What, To The Slave, Is The Fourth of July," where Frederick uses excellent vocabulary and eloquence to juxtapose the celebration of American independence with the reality of American slavery. Douglass' speech was risky for a free black man, but the payoff was great. He was one of few people to have the ear of both the president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln,and the respect of many American politicians.
He asked the question that many blacks in the 1800s wanted and wished that they could; he spoke the truth of his generation:
"Fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? 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 in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?"
Frederick spoke truth and elegance in a way that broke through racial lines. His efforts to advance his people were relentless and employed only his talents, hard work, and courage.
His works don't stop there; he also wrote two more autobiographies and published another newspaper, New National Era, that reached an even greater audience before he died. His office is left untouched and preserved to this day in honor of his unrelenting drive to make life better for all Americans, including you and me.
This year, as we remember the reason for the month and remember the heroes of our past, let us not forget that we all stand on the backs of great men and women whose stories have been preserved by this month. Therefore, let us appreciate this time and its efforts to ensure that the courageous actions of great Americans like Douglass and others have made and remember what power it still holds today.