Why Frederick Douglass is everyone’s hero
This month marks the bicentennial of the birth of Frederick Douglass, journalist, orator, author and reformer. Born a slave, he won his freedom at 20 and became the most influential black American of his time.
In a country conscious of its past, in a city proud of its black heritage, turning 200 is an occasion. Among the celebrations of Douglass this winter are a photographic exhibition at the Library of Congress and an evening of music and drama at the Lincoln Theatre on U Street.
The National Park Service is presenting a year-long commemoration at Cedar Grove, where Frederick Douglass lived until his death in 1895. This past weekend, the mayor inaugurated celebrations including a student oratorical contest, a dramatic performance and historical talks.
The place was packed, and that’s the point. Interest in the man and his story is growing. Throngs of people, many of them white, roamed the sprawling grounds of the estate in Anacostia, a poor, isolated neighbourhood in southeast Washington.
The curiosity in Douglass is not just because this is Black History Month, which has been around since 1976. It reflects a wider appreciation of black experience in books, documentaries and movies, such as the blockbuster Black Panther, in which, as Michelle Obama tweeted, people everywhere can “find the courage to be heroes of their own stories.”
The story of black America unfolds proudly (if imperfectly) in the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington. Seventeen months after its opening, it has attracted 2.5 million visitors. Tickets are booked months in advance.
A year ago, Donald Trump observed that Frederick Douglass “is an example of someone who has done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more.”
Trump was right; Douglass is being noticed. He is also praised, even deified, by people who once would have called him an agitator and revolutionary. Neither was a compliment.
Such is the veneration of Frederick Douglass in 2018 that to some he is not just a foremost abolitionist and leading suffragette (we would call him a feminist today for his early and eloquent support for women’s right to vote). Now he is also a paragon of thrift and independence.
Libertarians and conservatives embrace Douglass. To them, he is a pious Christian who preached forgiveness and a fervent patriot who believed in the goodness of the country, whatever its flaws. They wonder how Black Lives Matter, with a more leftist agenda, can claim Douglass.
Douglass believed in private enterprise, becoming the most influential person of his time. His bearded, leonine face was much photographed; he wrote three memoirs and gave speeches everywhere, widely printed and sold.
David W. Blight, Douglass’s biographer, rejects the historical appropriation by conservatives. Blight notes Douglass’s belief in government to win the Civil War and free the slaves. He sees Douglass as a radical, who urged blacks to “Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!” Today, to the disgust of conservatives, he might well have joined black football players kneeling in silent protest during the playing of the national anthem.
Douglass believed in self-reliance, yes, but also in a government to guarantee rights and freedom so blacks could be “left alone” to succeed. Until slavery was abolished, that was not possible in the United States.
Even more audacious, Blight says, is that Republicans claim Douglass as their own. Douglass would have been a Republican in the time of Abraham Lincoln, who invited Douglass to the White House and called him a friend.
But would Douglass have joined the party of Barry Goldwater, who opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Or today’s Republicans who gerrymander electoral districts to dilute the black vote and enact voter ID laws to suppress black turnout?
Blight finds today’s debate amusing. At 200 years old, so would Frederick Douglass, who understood publicity as much as protest. He would enjoy his new popularity and relish his stature as black America’s oldest rock star.