The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Amistad Committee to celebrate Frederick Douglass
Event marks anniversary and unity against racism
NEW HAVEN » Frederick Douglass, the nation’s foremost African-American abolitionist, helped rally black soldiers, including an infantry regiment from New Haven, to fight for the Union during the Civil War.
His life and work will be celebrated by the Amistad Committee just months before the 200th anniversary of his birth. The event, taking place from 10 a.m. to noon on Sept. 16 at Criscuolo Park, Chapel and James streets, will feature a performance by actor Nathan M. Richardson as Douglass.
“Frederick Douglass was important to our country,” said Al Marder, president of the Amistad Committee. “He was an outstanding voice rallying support for the Union side against slavery … and he was perhaps the outstanding African-American figure, a runaway slave, who achieved international prominence in writing his autobiography.”
Marder said Douglass, born in February 1818, “succeeded in mustering 200,000 black soldiers” who weren’t accepted at first by the Union Army. Among them was the 29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, an all-black regiment that mustered out of Fair Haven in 1864, according to connecticuthistory.org.
“The atmosphere at that time, of course … was that the military felt it necessary to have white officers,” Marder said. “Blacks were not considered by the military as fighters. The attitudes of slavery permeated our society and despite that these young blacks volunteered for service, appreciating that their struggle was a struggle against slavery and saving the Union.”
Douglass had clashed with Abraham Lincoln over the president’s racial policies before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. “Douglass had insisted that he call in the black troops,” Marder said. “Lincoln was very reluctant to do that. He thought it would add to the division. It became not only a good move but almost a necessity because of the troubles the Union was having” against the Confederate Army.
“Douglass was insisting that Lincoln had to call on young black people and 200,000 responded,” Marder said.
According to connecticuthistory.org, the state’s governor and General Assembly decided to make the 29th a black regiment in November 1863 and by January it had fulfilled its compliment of 1,000 men. Connecticut had been the last Northern state to ban slavery, in 1848.
At Criscuolo Park, then known as Grapevine Point, Douglass “spoke to the 29th and encouraged them and pointed out what the struggle was all about,” Marder said. The 29th Regiment was successful in battle and was among the first regiments to march into the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
Douglass went on to become internationally famous and died Feb. 20, 1895.
“We’re titling the event ‘New Haven’s Response to Charlottesville’ and we’re trying to mobilize the community because it’s not an abstract historical event and we still face the can- cer [of racism] — a differ- ent form, of course, but it’s quite obvious it’s still alive and well,” Marder said.
On Aug. 12, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members and other white supremacists protested the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and clashed with counterprotesters, one of whom was killed when a racist protester drove his car into the crowd.
The free Sept. 16 event will feature music by the Heritage Choir and as well as Richardson’s portrayal. “He does a performance taken from the speeches and autobiographical material,” Marder said.
Richardson is a poet who is performing “The Frederick Douglass Speaking Tour” for the third year. He has been a featured author at The James River Writers Festival and other conferences. He lives in Virginia.
The Amistad Committee was formed in 1988 to carry on the spirit of the African captives aboard the schooner Amistad who attempted to revolt in 1839 and brought to Connecticut. A trial was held in New Haven and the Africans were freed by a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.