Ep 141: Frederick Douglass with David Blight (Replay)
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Ep 141: Frederick Douglass with David Blight (Replay)
Episode 141: Show Notes
Today, I am re-airing an older episode from At the End of the Tunnel, the fascinating story of Frederick Douglass.
Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist that was born a slave, eventually became one of the most prominent abolitionists of his time, even heralded as the most famous Black man in the world, and the most photographed person in all of America in the 1800s.
To share Douglass’ fascinating life story, today’s guest is Professor David W. Blight, the world’s foremost expert on the life of Frederick Douglass. He is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Douglass biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, which combines stories and insights, drawing from a repository of Douglass’ letters and papers from the latter third of his life, which have not previously been written about.
David is the Sterling Professor of African American studies and the director of the Guider Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University, not to mention an award-winning author of seven other books, plus multiple op-eds.
In this episode, Professor David Blight shares a bit about his personal relationship with Black history and what attracted him to Frederick Douglass, and goes on to share Douglass’ story, from the reinvention of his life out of human bondage, to discovering the power of language, and becoming a speaker during the golden age of oratory as performance, to his rise to stardom after writing his books, his mastery of multiple witting styles, and his declining mental health.
David also explains the relationship Douglass had with his wife and his family, his foray into writing history, and his problem with the pleasures and perils of fame, as well as the legacy he has left us in his words. Tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
David kicks things off by speaking about his anticipated reception of Prophet of Freedom.
The appetite for good history, what good history is – it tells a good story, it’s well-researched.
David desires to reach real people who want to understand the essential threat of slavery.
David talks about the influence that his teachers and historical sites had on him as a child.
The narratives in Bruce Catton’s books factored into igniting David’s fascination with history.
David first encountered Black history in college, after which he taught it in high school.
What attracted David to Frederick Douglass – he realized that slavery, the civil war, and abolition are the essential threats of American history.
David was attracted to both the importance of the subject and the story embedded in it.
What David means by, “Never trust someone who writes three biographies” – the point of a memoire is to control your own story.
What could be a more American story than the reinvention of life out of human bondage?
How Douglass gained a kind of power through the Bible and The Columbian Orator.
Language became Douglass’ power and his will to speak – reading became his escape.
The dangers of Douglass’ escape attempts and the level of autonomy he had in Baltimore.
Douglass’ time at a slave-breakers plantation shaped his opinion of violence and pacifism.
Douglass’ entry into speaking during the golden age of oratory as performance or stage craft.
The two primary weapons that abolitionists had were oratory and the printing press.
Douglass became a kind of an American wonder – people wanted to see him speak.
Natural talent versus preparation – Douglass had to learn, but he was a great storyteller.
Projecting his voice throughout these rowdy audiences – it had to come from deep within.
Until writing this biography, David says he never fully grasped the physical and mental challenges of the type of oration Douglass was doing.
Douglass’ rise to stardom after publishing his books and what it was like for him in the 1800s.
Douglass used a lot of humor in his speaking, while his books were a little more serious.
Douglass mastered multiple writing styles – from the short-form political editorial to a novella.
Douglass’ mental state during this period – apparently he was suffering a mental breakdown.
The relationship that Douglass had with his wife, Anna, their family dynamics in the 19th century, and the education his children received.
Douglass was giving the same speeches later on in his life and started writing about history.
When people came to Cedar Hill to ask Douglass advice, he said, “Agitate, agitate, agitate.”
There were always accusations that Douglass was only out for himself, that he was an insider, not the great radical outsider he once was.
David describes that Douglass had a terrible problem with fame, the pleasures and perils.
David thinks Douglass is the prose poet of American democracy – his legacy is his words.
What David would want to ask Douglass – he would want to ask him about his wife, Anna.
The monikers David uses to refer to Douglass in his book were all used by the media.
What is next for David is a new biography of James Wilbur Johnson, the polymath.
Tweetables:
“However cynical we become, there is a great deal of hunger out there for good history, for historical grounding. That tends to be among a self-selected, educated population, but I have audiences of regular people who read books, and that is encouraging.” — @davidwblight1 [0:06:57]
“Slavery, and the coming of the civil war, and the abolition of slavery, and the reconstruction, and all of its aftermath – I began to realize in a more sophisticated way, this is the essential threat of American history. It’s a dramatic, fascinating, important part of [history] to teach about.” — @davidwblight1 [0:19:42]
“As a scholar and a biographer, you have to get underneath, inside, over, and through those autobiographies. They are incredibly valuable. They are a stem for understanding Douglass’ life, but you have got to work your way through them, because he is manipulating us on every page.” — @davidwblight1 [0:24:48]
“Abolitionists used two primary weapons: one was oratory, and the other was the printing press, newspapers. They are the prototypical, original, great American reform movement. That’s what they had. Today it’s social media. It’s impossible to imagine Douglass sending a tweet!” — @davidwblight1 [0:47:4319
“[Douglass] could write in many forms, this is a crucial point. He mastered the short-form political editorial, week-after-week, on any subject. He mastered the long-form autobiography, he mastered speech making, and he wrote one novella. He mastered these many different forms of writing, which not everybody can do, even if they are an accomplished writer, and he did some of that greatest writing in crisis moments in his life.” — @davidwblight1 [01:06:03]
“Old civil rights activists who are still alive are desperate to make sure that young people don’t forget the movement, don’t forget what was sacrificed. That’s the same thing Douglass was doing by the 1880s, 1890s, ‘Don’t forget slavery. Don’t forget the slave power. Don’t forget white supremacy. White supremacy is more virulent now than it was then,’ he would tell them.” — @davidwblight1 [01:20:11]
“[Douglass] is the prose poet of American democracy. We know him in the words. We [also] know him in the actions and deeds, and creating the newspaper, and the heroism of escaping slavery, but we know this man in his words. 1200 pages of autobiography, thousands of pages of speeches, hundred upon hundreds of editorials. It’s what he left us in his mastery of language, about the meaning of America, the meaning of freedom, the meaning of slavery.” — @davidwblight1 [01:31:09]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: