hi
i'm clint smith and this is crash course
black american history
today
we're going to be talking about a true
legend
truly one of the greatest to ever doing
he was the most photographed man of the
19th century he wrote speeches that got
standing ovations on both sides of the
atlantic
and he wrote books that made people
across the world understand the
barbarity and cruelty of slavery in new
ways
and in addition to his advocacy
he is legit one of the best writers
america has ever produced
today
we're getting into the life and times
of the one and only
mr frederick douglass
[Music]
frederick douglass was born frederick
bailey
in maryland in either 1817 or 1818.
his mother was an enslaved woman
and his father was a white man rumored
to have been his mother's enslaver
he saw very little of his mother as a
child
because she lived on a different
plantation
12 miles away douglas's mother died when
he was only seven years old
and he was raised by his grandmother
family separation
was one of the most horrific parts of
enslavement and it was not uncommon for
enslaved children to be split apart from
their parents
even at an early age in his book soul by
soul
historian walter johnson writes
of the two-thirds of a million
interstate sales made by the traders in
the decades before the civil war
25 percent involved the destruction of a
first marriage
and 50
destroyed a nuclear family
many of these separating children under
the age of 13
from their parents
when douglas was a child
the wife of one of his enslavers
sophia alt
began teaching him the alphabet
and a few short words
this began to open up the world to young
frederick whose blooming literacy
allowed him to see the world in a new
way
but soon
sophia's husband hugh
put a stop to these lessons by telling
his wife that quote
if you teach him how to read
there would be no keeping him
it would forever unfit him
to be a slave
but douglas
did learn to read and he later went on
to hold secret meetings to teach other
enslaved people how to read as well and
it wasn't only douglas's ability to read
that made his story remarkable one of
the most infamous stories from douglas's
life before he escaped slavery
was the day he decided to fight back
in narrative of the life of frederick
douglass the first of his three memoirs
douglas discussed a man named edward
covey covey was what was known
as a slave breaker
known for breaking
unruly enslaved people who presented
problems to the planters
and kobe
was notoriously ruthless in early 1833
douglas was rented out to kobe and for
months was subjected to unrelenting
abuse
sometimes
after he had been whipped by kovi
the gashes he had from his previous
beatings
had not even healed yet
one sweltering day in august douglas
passed out from working arduously in the
heat
when covey discovered him
he beat him severely
until blood was dripping from his head
douglas vowed to himself
that he would never let this happen
again when kovi next attempted to beat
douglas
douglas fought back so fiercely
that edward covey never touched him
again
in his memoir douglas wrote
this battle with mr covey
was the turning point in my career as a
slave
it rekindled the few expiring embers of
freedom
and revived within me
a sense of my own manhood it recalled
the departed self-confidence
and inspired me again with a
determination to be free
but it wasn't only through physical
resistance that douglas reasserted and
affirmed his humanity
it was
as it was for millions of other enslaved
people
also done through the community they
built and the relationships they
cultivated
let's go to the thought bubble
on september 15 1838 douglas married a
free black woman named anna murray we
know frederick douglass to be one of the
most famous and influential figures in
american history
but the lesser-known anna
played an important role in helping
douglas escape to freedom in the first
place
and also took on the burden of
financially supporting their family
before douglas's career as an orator
paid the bills douglas had already
desperately wanted freedom
but meeting and falling in love with a
woman who herself was free
only reaffirmed that desire he brought
papers and a sailor's uniform for a
disguise his journey required him to hop
on a moving train
avoid anyone who may have recognized him
and take a detour by ferry
all to get him from baltimore to new
york within a day
douglas later wrote of arriving in new
york city
quote
a new world had opened upon me
if life is more than breath
and the quick round of blood
i lived more in one day
than in a year of my slave life
it was a time of joyous excitement
which words can but tamely describe anna
met him there shortly after
and they were married just 11 days after
douglas had arrived
as you can tell
anna looked out for fred
way before the rest of the world would
know his name
like many black women though
she doesn't always get the credit she
deserves in the historical record
but know that without anna murray
there would be no frederick douglass as
we know him
thanks thoughtbubble
frederick and anna settled in
massachusetts where frederick became a
prominent anti-slavery order and
abolitionist
it was here that he and anna also
adopted douglas as their surname he told
the story of his life as an enslaved
person in ways that illuminated the
realities of slavery to those who might
not have otherwise been familiar with it
and further radicalized those who had
already believed it was wrong
word of his remarkable speeches began to
spread and garnered the attention of
many white abolitionists
the most famous of these perhaps was
william lloyd garrison douglas would go
on to work on garrison's abolitionist
publication the liberator
it was during his time at the liberator
that douglas would write his first and
most well-known book
narrative of the life of frederick
douglass an american slave
it was published in 1845.
this book
was a remarkable achievement and remains
one of my own personal favorite books of
all time
but many white people at the time of its
publication
thought it was almost
too remarkable
so much so
that they questioned whether a formerly
enslaved person
could have even written such a thing
but douglas
did write it
and with it he helped transform the
conversation on slavery across the
country douglas eventually left the
liberator and after spending two years
in europe he returned to the us in 1847
and partnered with physician
abolitionist and black nationalist
martin delaney to form a liberationist
newspaper called
the north star a true reflection of
douglas's activism in advocating for the
rights of black people as well as the
rights of women the paper's motto read
right is of no sex
truth is of no color
god is the father of us all
and all we
are brethren the north star had a wide
array of issues to cover
including the nationwide controversy
over the fugitive slave law of 1850.
we've previously discussed the fugitive
slave act of 1793 which empowered
enslavers to apprehend runaways and
sometimes just any black person making
both escaped slaves and free black folks
alike susceptible to bounty hunters in
cities throughout the north but in the
new 1850 version the mandate made things
even worse
under this new law a part of the
compromise of 1850
federal commissioners paid bounty
hunters to return fugitives and
penalties for interfering with the
apprehension of runaways became more
strict
moreover
citizens were now required to aid in
detaining runaways
basically abiding by the mantra
if you see something
say something this act
and the dred scott decision
had many black people wondering
if freedom in america
was even possible but instead of
accepting
that the slavery question had been
definitively answered
douglas made a public speech
addressing the inhumanity of the verdict
directly
he boldly shot back
quote
you will readily ask me
how i am affected by this devilish
decision
this
judicial incarnation of wolfishness my
answer is
and no thanks to the slave holding wing
of the supreme court
my hopes were never brighter than now
determined to fight back against the
tyranny black people faced during this
tumultuous time
as a devout christian
douglas relied on his faith and trusted
god to restore balance in america at the
very least he suspected that god was
ultimately on the abolitionist side of
this fight
and that god was more powerful
than any us supreme court
but still
douglas believed that god
wouldn't act on his own
and that he couldn't sit back and wait
for some
divine intervention during the civil war
douglas actively pushed president
abraham lincoln to prioritize black
freedom in his effort to preserve the
union
he presented the issue
as a matter of war policy douglas
believed that allowing black men to
fight in the war
would show this country how committed
black people were to the united states
by showcasing an ultimate display of
patriotism douglas thought
that black men would be able to
demonstrate their worthiness of
citizenship
and douglas was so committed to this
idea that he even recruited his own sons
lewis and charles
to fight in the union army
douglas's advocacy played a significant
role in president lincoln's decision to
enact the emancipation proclamation on
january 1 1863
this proclamation resulted in
much-needed leverage for the union and
shifted both the domestic dynamics and
the international implications
of the war
after the war douglas continued to
travel
making speeches writing essays and
revising his earlier books douglas
served multiple political appointments
in the post-war years including
president of the friedman savings bank
united states marshal for the district
of columbia
and minister resident and council
general to the republic of haiti
he also started a new newspaper
the new national era
my man stayed busy there's so much to
say about frederick douglass and not
nearly enough time
i will say
that if you haven't spent much time with
his writing
you absolutely should
a man's pen game
was vicious
he wrote so prolifically
and so beautifully
it's hard to think of something that was
happening in 19th century america that
he didn't write about there are even
some historians today
who claim that
in many ways
frederick douglass should be considered
one of our founding fathers
because while he wasn't at the
constitutional convention in 1787
he did play an enormous role in helping
the country more directly confront the
ways that it was failing to live up to
its promise
thanks for watching i'll see you next
time
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