David Blight - "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom"
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Classroom-Ready Resources
Video Timestamps
- 01:25 - What inspired you to write this book?
- 09:45 - The development and maturation of Douglass. The last thirty years of Douglass’s life and his changing views on issues such as US expansion
- 17:05 - How did movement play a role in Douglass’s life and career?
- 25:25 - Douglass’s personal life, his relationship to women and the women’s rights movement
- 42:55 - Douglass’s evolving views on the US Constitution
- 47:30 - Did Douglass ever run for office and participate in electoral politics?
- 50:40 - Why are you so passionate about Frederick Douglass?
- 55:00 - How would Douglass feel about freedom of speech, social media, and censorship?
- 1:01:00 - What are your thoughts on the portrayal of Frederick Douglass in the book The Good Lord Bird?
- 1:05:00 - What advice do you have for teaching about Douglass in a high school survey course? What documents or events are essential?
Primary Sources
- Buying Frederick Douglass’s Freedom, 1846
- “I love you but hate slavery”: Frederick Douglass to his former owner, Hugh Auld, ca. 1860
- “Men of Color, To Arms! To Arms!” 1863
- Douglass’s call for African Americans to serve as Union soldiers during the Civil War
- Racism in the North: Frederick Douglass on “a vulgar and senseless prejudice,” 1870
- Frederick Douglass’s tribute to Abraham Lincoln, 1880
- Frederick Douglass on Jim Crow, 1887
- Frederick Douglass on the disenfranchisement of Black voters, 1888
Essays
- “Frederick Douglass at 200,” History Now 50 (Winter 2018)
- Essays by five historians on Douglass
- “‘The Merits of This Fearful Conflict’: Douglass on the Causes of the Civil War” by David W. Blight (2003)
- “Frederick Douglass: From Slavery to Freedom” by Steven Mintz (2006)
- “Douglass and Lincoln: A Convergence” by James Oakes (2008)
Lesson Plans
- Frederick Douglass: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
- Douglass and African American Soldiers during the Civil War
- Enslaved American Americans and Expressions of Freedom