Frederick Douglass And his famous Irish book tour

Frederick Douglass was at the forefront of the abolition movement in the US. Prior to Emancipation, Douglass spent a "transformative" four months in Ireland where he met with Daniel O'Connell.

There was a time in Ireland, not so long ago, when seeing a person of color was a noteworthy occurrence. It is easy to think that Black History has no relevance in Ireland. But you'd be mistaken. In August 1845, former slave Frederick Douglass set sail from Boston for a twoyear lecture tour of the British Isles, commencing with four months in Ireland, including a meeting with Irish nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell that would have a transformative effect on the famous abolitionist's subsequent life and career. The plain facts of Douglass' extraordinary United Kingdom and Ireland tour, which was arranged primarily to escape the increased threats of kidnapping and bodily harm brought on by the publication of his bestselling autobiography, are available to anyone with a working laptop and a functioning WiFi connection. But if you'd like a literary take on what Douglass felt and thought and experienced during his time in Ireland, which by late 1845 was a country on the brink of fullblown famine, then allow me to suggest Colum McCann's episodic 2013 novel, TransAtlantic. In the chapter entitled “freeman,” McCann gives a vivid account of Douglass's visit to the Emerald Isle, which begins inauspiciously in Boston when the one-time slave is “forced into steerage on the steamer Cambria even though he had tried to book first class.” The UK was a sensible enough destination for an abolitionist campaigner. Iin 1807 Parliament had prohibited any British involvement in the slave trade and then in 1833 outlawed the practice itself in most of the empire's overseas colonies, but why was Douglass bothering with Ireland? According to McCann, Douglass had good reason to include Ireland in his tour. “The Irish abolitionists were known for their fervor. They came from the land of O'Connell, after all. The Great Liberator. There was, he'd been told, a great hunger for justice.” In comparison to Boston, “even in Massachusetts he was still chased down the street, beaten, spat upon”. Douglass finds Dublin a welcoming place where he is no longer a piece of property but a rightful man. His appearance alone marks him out – thanks to a rigorous exercise regime, the 27-year-old Douglass is “broad-shouldered, muscled, over six feet tall” – and when he arrives at the home of his Dublin publisher, he is met with courtesy and deference befitting an international celebrity.