FREDRICK DOUGLASS, Prophet of Freedom | David Blight | Simon & Schuster, 888 pages.
Any American born nearly a decade before Thomas Jefferson's passing and living more than a decade past Edison's light bulb discovery would have a unique tale. But few, if any, were as unique and impactful as that of Frederick Douglas. He was a prolific scribe orator, the first black person appointed to a government position requiring U.S. Senate confirmation, and an all-around political force of nature.
Born a slave in Maryland, enduring inhuman treatment by Bible-quoting masters, he escaped to find freedom in the North. Abolitionists far and wide were drawn to his powerful oratory talents. In his early twenties, he became a road warrior traversing the "free states," giving speeches for Emancipation. He drew massive crowds, some with dangerous consequences. In Indiana, he faced epitaphs of "kill the N…," beaten unconscious and his hand broken.
Douglas dove into politics and saw a pacifist solution to slavery was impossible. He thought little of compromising politicians like Lincoln. Douglas' dedication at the Lincoln Memorial unveiling, with President Grant attending, was blistering, noting Lincoln was "preeminently the white man's President;" Douglas sought to ensure that as the war's memory faded, history was not forgotten.
Like any quality biographer, Blight is enamored but not blinded by his topic. His work uncovers and investigates many of the inconsistencies of Douglas's life and the realities of his foibles. His humanity aside, the Frederick Douglas story is a quintessential American Story. Born literally into slavery, Douglas made his freedom - not from the government - but through his intellect, hard work, and the charity of right-thinking religious activists. He challenged Presidents to be better. At one point, America's most successful writer, edging out Mark Twain, died enduring the insults of an NYT obituary that attributed his brilliance to "white blood" in his veins.
Blight's Frederick Douglas is the perfect place to start if you're up for a whirlwind of events, emotions, and chronology of mid-19th-century American history.