THE FACE OF HIS RACE
orn into slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey never knew the exact year of his birth, but he fled slavery in his was named both the winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for history and the Lincoln Prize awarded by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. In the first major biography of Douglass in 25 years, the Yale University historian David Blight details not only Douglass’ long public life but also his private life and relationships—two wives, five children, and a sprawling extended family. One of the most photographed figures in the 19th century—sitting for 160 photographs over his lifetime—the self-educated Douglass boldly promoted civil rights, including suffrage for women, throughout his life on countless speaking tours. Previous biographies focused on the young firebrand, but Blight breaks new ground on the older Douglass, refracted in 25 Douglass family scrapbooks, including newspaper clippings and personal items, shared with him by collector Walter O. Evans. Blight tells how “the prose poet of democracy” moved from political outsider to insider after the war and brings to light the private side of what Blight likens to a black First Family, including the controversy surrounding Douglass’ second marriage to Helen Pitts, a highly educated white activist. In a related exhibition, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Gallery of Art is hosting an installation featuring items from the Evans collection, including scrapbooks, photographs, books, drafts of speeches, and letters. The show ends June 14, 2019.
