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Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
Escrito por David W. Blight
Narrado por Prentice Onayemi
Ações de livro
Comece a ouvir- Editora:
- Simon & Schuster Audio
- Lançado em:
- Oct 16, 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781508265665
- Formato:
- Audiolivro
Nota do Editor
Descrição
The definitive, dramatic biography 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.
As a young man Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. 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. He wrote three versions of his autobiography over the course of his lifetime and published his own newspaper. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence he bore witness to the brutality of slavery.
Initially mentored by William Lloyd Garrison, Douglass spoke widely, often to large crowds, using his own story to condemn slavery. He broke with Garrison to become a political abolitionist, a Republican, and eventually a Lincoln supporter. By the Civil War and during Reconstruction, Douglass became the most famed and widely travelled orator in the nation. He denounced the premature end of Reconstruction and the emerging Jim Crow era. In his unique and eloquent voice, written and spoken, Douglass was a fierce critic of the United States as well as a radical patriot. 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 this remarkable 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. Blight tells the fascinating story of Douglass's two marriages and his complex extended family. Douglass was not only an astonishing man of words, but a thinker steeped in Biblical story and theology. There has not been a major biography of Douglass in a quarter century. David Blight's Frederick Douglass affords this important American the distinguished biography he deserves.
Ações de livro
Comece a ouvirDados do livro
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
Escrito por David W. Blight
Narrado por Prentice Onayemi
Nota do Editor
Descrição
The definitive, dramatic biography 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.
As a young man Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. 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. He wrote three versions of his autobiography over the course of his lifetime and published his own newspaper. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence he bore witness to the brutality of slavery.
Initially mentored by William Lloyd Garrison, Douglass spoke widely, often to large crowds, using his own story to condemn slavery. He broke with Garrison to become a political abolitionist, a Republican, and eventually a Lincoln supporter. By the Civil War and during Reconstruction, Douglass became the most famed and widely travelled orator in the nation. He denounced the premature end of Reconstruction and the emerging Jim Crow era. In his unique and eloquent voice, written and spoken, Douglass was a fierce critic of the United States as well as a radical patriot. 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 this remarkable 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. Blight tells the fascinating story of Douglass's two marriages and his complex extended family. Douglass was not only an astonishing man of words, but a thinker steeped in Biblical story and theology. There has not been a major biography of Douglass in a quarter century. David Blight's Frederick Douglass affords this important American the distinguished biography he deserves.
- Editora:
- Simon & Schuster Audio
- Lançado em:
- Oct 16, 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781508265665
- Formato:
- Audiolivro
Sobre o autor
Relacionado a Frederick Douglass
Avaliações
The story of Douglass’ life is amazing and sad. He was born into slavery and escaped to freedom. He then went on to become an accomplished author and speaker. He was a outspoken critic of slavery and a champion of the freedmen. His personal life was marked with more tragedy than one would expect in a period in which death for young children was all too common. His children, although born into a middle class environment, did not go on to college and all but one struggled to become self sufficient.
First, the writing and depth of research are marvelous. Blight considers and presents detailed arguments about the finer points of Douglass’ life. Each chapter is replete with scores of endnotes for further reading.
Second, the topic is timely, especially to America. Race is still an issue that haunts us. The nineteenth century – Douglass’ century – was haunted by slavery. The twentieth century was haunted by racial inequity. The twenty-first century saw its first black president followed by an openly racist president. Douglass’ struggle continues. It continued immediately through Booker Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, and it follows us to this day. Douglass’ yearning for freedom connects with the Hebrew prophets and connects today with all of those who question whether today’s social order is just and fair – whether America is living up to her grand ideals.
Third, this book is well-put together. Receiving the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for History, it has been exceptionally well-received by critics. It contains a pantheon of camera-pictures, artistic renderings, and daguerrotypes. Although we do not have any recordings of Douglass’ voice (as the phonograph was coming into existence just before Douglass’ death), copious presentations of the well-groomed Douglass alongside majestic texts of his speeches enliven the reader’s imagination to hear this great man contemplate a new American order in booming oratory. All of these elements conspire to bring Douglass alive again – and so to bring his struggle to speak freedom into existence to the fore.
I write this review on the day after Congressman Elijah Cummings’ death. Both Cummings and Douglass were born in Maryland. Both struggled for justice for their people and led journeys that expanded freedom’s call for all humans. Save for Lincoln, no one represented freedom’s call from slavery like Douglass did. His story, at least in my circles, is not told in all its grandiosity and particular splendor. This book communicates that in a way that allows us to see its common human struggle in contemporary life, all the way to Cummings’ struggle.
I also write in the context of the American South, where many freely intertwine American conservatism and evangelical Christianity. Often, it is claimed, liberalism is God-less and denigrates the writ of Christian Scripture. To that accusation, a great liberal voice – the deep, liberal, Republican voice of Frederick Douglass – answers. Liberalism – that is, the call for universal human freedom in its many forms – is historically grounded in the call of the ancient Hebrew prophets. Indeed, as the title of this book intimates, Douglass’ life represents a prophetic call. Though never a minister, he earned the title as “the Moses of American blacks.” Privileged white preachers who want to hold onto an old order need to remember that Scripture points us to the impassioned suffering of Jesus Christ for our freedom. Like many (all?) slaves, Douglass, unjustly whipped by tyrannical white men, shared such stripes, and by such stripes – by recognizing the holiness of their call for freedom – we as Americans and as humans are healed.
That’s why more people should read about Frederick Douglass, and that’s why this 900-page book deserves your time.