![]() ![]() “David Blight has written the definitive biography of Frederick Douglass…a powerful portrait of one of the most important American voices of the nineteenth century” ( The Boston Globe). “Absorbing and even moving…a brilliant book that speaks to our own time as well as Douglass’s” ( The Wall Street Journal), Blight’s biography tells the fascinating story of Douglass’s two marriages and his complex extended family. In this “cinematic and deeply engaging” ( The New York Times Book Review) biography, David Blight has drawn on new information held in a private collection that few other historian have consulted, as well as recently discovered issues of Douglass’s newspapers. After the war he sometimes argued politically with younger African Americans, but he never forsook either the Republican party or the cause of black civil and political rights. In his unique and eloquent voice, written and spoken, Douglass was a fierce critic of the United States as well as a radical patriot. By the Civil War, Douglass had become the most famed and widely travelled orator in the nation. Initially mentored by William Lloyd Garrison, Douglass spoke widely, using his own story to condemn slavery. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence he bore witness to the brutality of slavery. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major literary figures of his time. “Extraordinary…a great American biography” ( The New Yorker) of the most important African-American of the nineteenth century: Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave who became the greatest orator of his day and one of the leading abolitionists and writers of the era.Īs a young man Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. ![]() Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Americans are still fighting over the great issues at the heart of the conflict.**Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History** The preacher who tried to heal the wounds of Charleston fell victim to neo-Confederate ideology in the city where the Civil War began.ġ50 years after Robert E. ![]() Throughout modern history, the millions forced to flee as refugees and beg for asylum have felt Douglass’s agony, and thought his thoughts.Ī century and a half after the Civil War, the process of Reconstruction remains contested-and incomplete.Ĭlementa Pinckney, a Martyr of Reconciliation The Battle for Memorial Day in New OrleansĪ century and a half after the Civil War, Mayor Mitch Landrieu asked his city to reexamine its past-and to wrestle with hard truths. In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, he dreamed of a pluralist utopia. Levinįrederick Douglass’s Vision for a Reborn America The University of North Carolina agreed to pay the Sons of Confederate Veterans $2.5 million-a sum that rivals the endowment of its history department. The pandemic is reminding Americans of the importance of government.Ī University’s Betrayal of Historical Truth The United States Is Being Taught by Facts and Events Like Frederick Douglass, we can find inspiration for this moment in the oldest story of rebirth and renewal. Lessons from Frederick Douglass on the tortured relationship between protest and change ![]() Here’s what parents need to understand about the teaching of history. He is the author, most recently, of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. Blight is a professor of American history and the director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |