Douglass And His Race

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mfd&fileName=19/19013/19013page.db&recNum=0&itemLink=/ammem/doughtml/dougFolder4.html&linkText=7

The article appears to be an editorial newspaper clipping from the “Buffalo Express” on February 23rd, 1895. The article is titled “Douglass And His Race.”

This article was published three days after Fredrick Douglass’s death. The meaning of “His Race” clearly represents all the black people that Fredrick Douglass represented though his strong abolitionist writing, speaking and action during his later life.  We learn that Douglass had “thought of spending his remaining days in England, [where he had previously lived for 2 years] because everywhere in the United States he was constantly reminded of the prejudices against his race.”

We can see from this article that even though the Civil War was won by the North and blacks were technically “free,” Douglass still saw prejudice everywhere to the point of wanting to escape it. It seems uncharacteristic of such a strongly driven proactive thinker and initiator to want to escape from the very center of his life focus. Yet, oh the other hand, we can see that Douglass has given exorbitant amounts of himself fighting slavery and as the clipping explains a great deal of prejudice still existed even in the north.

The article does shed light on slight movement throughout the country towards giving blacks “political rights.” Perhaps Douglass death provoked the country into thinking what the state of black’s “social standing” was.

From this article, we might ask how Douglass handled hope v.s. pain regarding the situation of blacks in his day? Also, while we hear a lot a bout changes in the south, how did changes in the north come about?

4 thoughts on “Douglass And His Race

  1. My take on the article is a little different. I see this article as mainly a hashing out of Douglass’s opinions of the South and race relations therein. Much of it is devoted to refering to and using the word “South” explicitly and sometimes refering to southern states. He calls the status of white attitudes towards blacks a state of “lawlessness and violence in the south.” The author of the article is just kind of restating what Douglass said and then noting certain speeches given or actions taken by legislatures or law officials. I do think that you overestimate slightly the effect that Douglass or his death had in augmenting the social status of blacks in the south. I also disagree that it is uncharacteristic of a man such as Douglass to want to escape the prejudice of the US even after he had worked so hard on the issue, however you addressed the opposition to that assertion.

  2. My take on the article is a little different. I see this article as mainly a hashing out of Douglass’s opinions of the South and race relations therein. Much of it is devoted to refering to and using the word “South” explicitly and sometimes refering to southern states. He calls the status of white attitudes towards blacks a state of “lawlessness and violence in the south.” The author of the article is just kind of restating what Douglass said and then noting certain speeches given or actions taken by legislatures or law officials. I do think that you overestimate slightly the effect that Douglass or his death had in augmenting the social status of blacks in the south. I also disagree that it is uncharacteristic of a man such as Douglass to want to escape the prejudice of the US even after he had worked so hard on the issue, however you addressed the opposition to that assertion.

  3. From this article one can see that the treatment of blacks has improved greatly. One reason to conclude this is that these are newspaper articles about Fredrick Douglass and other blacks which would never happen if they were still slaves. In the second part the journalist is apologizing for the actions of other white men which shows that now they are treating black people with respect and courtesy. Another fact that these articles show is that even white men then had great respect for Fredrick Douglass since the General Assembly adjourned for the day in honor of Fredrick Douglass which had never happened for anyone before, so it to happen for the first time in his honor is a great deal.

    The poster above me in their second paragraph about Douglass seeing prejudice still, is unsupported. This article was written by someone else who saw the prejudice as Fredrick did, but it is not Fredrick writing, although there is a quote it is not directly from Fredrick, it was from a friend so it may be possible that he said that.

  4. From this article one can see that the treatment of blacks has improved greatly. One reason to conclude this is that these are newspaper articles about Fredrick Douglass and other blacks which would never happen if they were still slaves. In the second part the journalist is apologizing for the actions of other white men which shows that now they are treating black people with respect and courtesy. Another fact that these articles show is that even white men then had great respect for Fredrick Douglass since the General Assembly adjourned for the day in honor of Fredrick Douglass which had never happened for anyone before, so it to happen for the first time in his honor is a great deal.

    The poster above me in their second paragraph about Douglass seeing prejudice still, is unsupported. This article was written by someone else who saw the prejudice as Fredrick did, but it is not Fredrick writing, although there is a quote it is not directly from Fredrick, it was from a friend so it may be possible that he said that.

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