Frederick Douglass: From Slave to Statesman|5 Minute Video
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, however through his own heroic efforts became one of the most influential advocates for freedom in American history. His journey, a tale both painful and inspiring, should be known by everybody. Timothy Sandefur, author of “Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man,” guides us through Douglass’ fantastic life.
This video was made in partnership with the American Battlefield Trust. Learn more about Frederick Douglas at http://bit.ly/2Zf0sSq
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Script:
He was among the most revered Americans of the 19th century. His story of personal victory– simple origins to nationwide prominence– amounts to or higher than that of Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, or Ulysses Grant. He never became a politician, however he talked to presidents as an equal.
His name is Frederick Douglass.
Born a servant, Douglass never knew the precise date of his birth, never knew his dad, never saw his mom after the age of 7. This wasn’t uncommon at the time. Servant owners frequently made a point of separating families. Breaking household bonds increased dependence on the slave owner.
Discipline was maintained through easy fear and ruining self-confidence. A servant could be penalized for not working hard enough, but likewise for working too hard– or perhaps for suggesting labor-saving concepts. Douglass experienced all of this and rebelled against it.
As a teen, he taught himself to read. This produced a desire for liberty. When his owner discovered this troubling development, he sent him to cope with a regional farmer, Edward Covey, who made extra money breaking the will of unruly servants.
Covey beat Douglass every week for six months, often for no factor. And it worked. Quickly young Frederick quit all hope of being free. “The dark night of slavery closed in upon me,” he later on wrote.
That all altered one hot August day in 1835. Douglass fought back when Covey struck him. Where he discovered the nerve, he couldn’t say. The 2 men had a hard time till Covey stumbled away tired. Covey never ever laid a hand on Douglass once again.
The teenage slave had stood up for himself. He considered this the most crucial lesson of his life. Years later, he would tell this story when urging black men to enlist in the Union Army to combat the Confederacy. “You owe it to yourself,” he said. “You will stand more put up … and be less liable to insult … You [will be] defending your own liberty, honor, manhood, and self-esteem.”
Douglass made his escape from slavery in 1838, slipping into the North disguised as a U.S. Navy sailor. At any point along the rail journey, his lightweight cover could have been blown. Showing a confidence he didn’t really feel, he bluffed his method past runaway-slave hunters and suspicious conductors.
As soon as in the North, he joined the extreme abolitionist movement and was quickly acknowledged as a powerful speaker and writer. The movement’s leader, William Lloyd Garrison, burned the Constitution at his July 4th speeches. In Garrison’s view, it legally protected slavery and was therefore irredeemable.
However Douglass came to decline that. He believed that the Constitution was essentially opposed to slavery. “Interpreted as it ought to be analyzed,” Douglass stated, “the Constitution is a wonderful liberty document.”
Not surprisingly, Douglass was a strong fan of the Republican Party– the new anti-slavery party– and of the Union cause in the Civil War.
Lincoln, on the other hand, constantly appreciated Douglass. “Here comes my good friend Douglass,” Lincoln stated when he saw him at his second inaugural in 1865.
The Union success ended slavery. As the Democratic Party re-established itself in the South in the 1870s and ’80s, a brand-new kind of racial injustice arose in the kind of Jim Crow laws and, even worse, prevalent lynching.
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source
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, but through his own heroic efforts became one of the most influential supporters for liberty in American history. Timothy Sandefur, author of “Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man,” guides us through Douglass’ amazing life.
Born a slave, Douglass never ever understood the precise date of his birth, never understood his father, never ever saw his mom after the age of 7. Covey never laid a hand on Douglass once again.
Douglass made his escape from slavery in 1838, slipping into the North camouflaged as a U.S. Navy sailor.
