FREDRICK DOUGLAS

A Fiction Interview with Fredrick Douglas



A Fiction Interview with Fredrick Douglas

Short Biography

There are many famous Americans who have made a mark for themselves in the genres of literature and public speaking. Frederick Douglas (February 14 of 1818 - February 20 of 1895) is one such American who was a noted writer, editor and speaker who was also famous for his social works. He was known as The Sage of Anacostia or The Lion of Anacostia and is one of the writers blacks most of his day and the whole history of the United States.

On February 20, 1895 Douglas attended a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington, and it was during that meeting that he was invited for oratorical narrations to speak about his ideas. This was an encouraging public speech that received acclaim from the audience but later that day; Frederick had died followed by a heart attack. Douglas did not want to expose himself and wanted to reveal the realities of slavery and prison systems. He wanted to expose the cruel behaviors that the prisoners have to restraint followed by prosecution.

My Bondage and My Freedom introduce few incidents or figures from Douglas's past that does not appear in the Narrative. But the second autobiography says more about Douglas's complex relationship to his environment, particularly in the South, than emerges in the famous fugitive slave narrative. In 1845, Douglas brought his life story to a glorious culmination with an image of himself proclaiming the antislavery gospel from the lecture platform, a fugitive slave fully enlisted in the abolitionist crusade. Ten years later a chastened Douglas testified to the prejudice and paternalism among the Garrisoning abolitionists that caused him eventually to break from their ranks. (Bill and Frank, 1999).

A Fiction Interview

Me: You have been quoted as loving the Eastern Shore. How is that possible?

Frederick Douglas: If I had maintained any bitterness from my days of captivity, that was cast aside during my return in 1881, to the Lloyd residence and to that of Admiral Buchanan, “The Rest.” I was touched that Mrs. Buchanan remembered me from her days as a little girl at Wye House. And yes, the food and climate of the Eastern Shore were formative. I regard myself as an Eastern Shore man, proud of it and hopeful that as we evolve, its blessings will be within reach of all Americans, according to their morality and their industry.

Despite these repeated attempts to shape American memory, Douglas was unable to establish this account of Lincoln and the war in the mainstream of American politics, and the election of Rutherford B. Hayes in November 1876 effectively put an end to radical Reconstruction. Douglas nevertheless continued his quest for social and political equality. On the evening, of February 20, 1895, Douglas died at his home, having that morning attended sessions of the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C.

Me: How would you like to be remembered? Do you have a political legacy?

Frederick Douglas: I was ...