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(suspenseful music)

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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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[Frederick Douglass]
In the summer of 1841,

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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a grand anti-slavery
convention

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was held in Nantucket.

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(bells tolling)

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I was induced to express the
feelings inspired by

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the occasion and the fresh
recollection of the seams

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through which I had passed
as a slave.

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[Kenneth Morris] The
abolitionists that were there

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knew that they had this fugitive
slave in the audience

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and they asked Frederick,
"Will you just stand up?

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Will you tell the audience what
it was like to be enslaved?"

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[Douglass] What shall I say
of this experience?

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I have seen the cruelty
and brutality of slavery,

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and I had been subjected to
the depths of slave life.

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(people shouting)

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I was a graduate from this
peculiar institution,

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with my diploma
written on my back.

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[Morris] And the abolitionists
couldn't believe their eyes.

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He was eloquent.

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He was charismatic.

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He was theatrical.

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And they understood that they
had this star on their hands.

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Frederick was a survivor of
this institution that could

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communicate the inhumanity of
slavery in a way

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that nobody before him
had ever done.

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[Douglass] All that
the American people needed,

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I thought, was light.

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Could they know slavery
as I knew it,

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they would hasten to the work
of its extinction.

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[John Stauffer] More Americans
heard Douglass speak

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than any other American
in the 19th century,

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with the possible
exception of Mark Twain.

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And it was significant that
a former slave was famous.

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[Sarah Lewis] Frederick Douglass
understood the power of his

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literature as a
tactic of liberation.

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A man born enslaved who rose
to become a man of growth,

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of self-mastery.

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That arc of a life, it means
that anything is possible.

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[Christopher Bonner]
Douglass was becoming

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various things across his life.

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He was becoming free and
figuring out how to make himself

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a person who was not enslaved.

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He was becoming literate and
becoming a person who had

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cultivated all sorts of
knowledge that he could use in

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his politics.

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And what's most interesting is
that he was becoming a person

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who could change what the nation
was and help to eliminate

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the institution of slavery.

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[Farah Griffin]
Frederick Douglass has

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a very clear idea of what
becoming means.

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He is becoming an orator.

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He's becoming a world leader.

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He's becoming
a statesman and for him,

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becoming is a ever unfolding
process that he sees as

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self-creation.

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(suspenseful music continues)

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(birds chirping)

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♪ Go to sleepy little baby ♪

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♪
'fore the booger man
catch you ♪

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♪
go to sleep you little baby ♪

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♪
Mama ran away and
she told me to stay ♪

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♪
and take good care
of this baby ♪

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♪
Go to sleep, ♪

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♪
go to sleep... ♪

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[Douglass] I was born
in Tuckahoe,

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in Talbot County, Maryland.

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On the Chesapeake Bay.

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I had no accurate knowledge
of my age.

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By far,
the larger part of the slaves

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know as little of their ages
as horses know of theirs;

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and it is the wish of
most Masters

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to keep their slaves
thus ignorant.

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[Adam Goodheart]
Frederick Douglass's childhood

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was one of constant disruption,
separation, violence,

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and threats of violence.

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[Stauffer] He never knew
who his father was.

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He did not know his
mother very well,

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and that was common
for enslaved people.

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[Morris] He only saw his
mother a handful of times

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his whole life.

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And that's because she lived
on a plantation

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that was 12 miles away.

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But he did have someone early in
his life that showed him

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some love, and nurturing,
and care.

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And that was his grandmother,
Betsy.

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(tense music)
(people chattering)

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[Nick Bromell] Douglass spent
the first six years

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of his childhood living with
his grandmother.

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Not on the plantation of
the Colonel Lloyd family,

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but quite a distance from it;
12 miles away.

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Frederick Douglass's grandmother
meant a tremendous amount

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to him.

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And her love of him made
a tremendous impact on him.

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[Douglass] As I grew larger
and older,

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I learned by degrees the
sad fact that the little hut,

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and Grandmother herself,
belonged to some person

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who lived a great distance off,
and who was called

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by Grandmother,
"Old Master."

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[Morris] When he was around
five or six years old,

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his grandmother said,
"We're going to go on

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a long journey."

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Because it was time.

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(crickets chirping)

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[Bromell] The time finally came
when his grandmother

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would have to take him to
the Great House plantation,

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and his real life
of enslavement would begin.

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[Morris] That 12 mile walk to
the main plantation

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took a long time.

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He was scared and
clinging to her skirt.

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[Bromell] And they enter
a dark wood.

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(owl hooting)

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And Douglass started to see
monsters in there.

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(monster grumbling)

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[Douglass] I could see their
legs, eyes, and ears,

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or I could see something like
eyes, legs, and ears;

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till I got close enough to them
to see that the eyes were nuts,

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washed white with rain and
the legs were broken limbs.

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Thus, early I learned that the
point from which a thing

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is viewed is of some importance.

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[Morris] Frederick sees
this home is bigger than

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anything he'd ever seen before.

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He wanders off to look for
something to eat

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and to check out his
surroundings,

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and when he turns back to
look for his grandmother,

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she's gone.

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(somber music)

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[Bromell] After his grandmother
left him,

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that's when he had what he
called his

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"initiation into slavery."

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When he began to see
how...uh...

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cruel the system was.

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[Douglass] I have often
been awakened at the dawn of day

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by the most heart-rending
shrieks of atrocious cruelty.

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My master's savage barbarity
was equaled only by

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the consummate coolness with
which he committed the grossest

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and most savage deeds upon
the slaves under his charge.

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[Bromell] One of the first
things that he saw

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was the whipping
of his own aunt.

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(woman crying)

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[Douglass] The louder
she screamed,

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the harder he whipped.
(whip cracks)

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It was the blood-stained gate,

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the entrance to the
Hell of slavery,

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through which I was
about to pass.

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[Spires] This is the turning
point in his life,

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when Douglass sees his
condition.

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In that moment, where little
Frederick Douglass

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is in a closet watching
the brutal beating of his aunt,

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he's learning this is what
it means to be enslaved.

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(somber music)

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[Morris] Frederick Douglass
is chosen from among

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all of the children
on the plantation

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on the Eastern Shore of Maryland
to go to Baltimore

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to be the house servant
for his master's family.

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And he described this event as
divine providence in his favor.

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[Douglass] There were a number
of slave children

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that might have been sent from
the plantation to Baltimore.

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I was chosen
from among them all.

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(water rushing
and seagulls squawking)

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We arrived at Baltimore
early on Sunday morning.

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Mr. and Mrs. Auld
were both at home,

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and met me at the door with
their little son, Thomas,

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to take care of whom
I had been given.

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[Marcia Chatelain]
Enslaved children in many ways

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mirrored the activities
of the adults around them.

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Children were responsible for
caring for children

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not much older- or even
a few years younger than them.

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And so, in this process,
they were being groomed

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for that position in society.

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And Frederick Douglass
experienced that

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throughout his childhood.

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(somber music)

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[Bromell] Mrs. Hugh Auld doesn't
really understand that

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to keep someone enslaved,

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you have to treat them
as a non-human being.

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Because they've never
had a slave before.

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They're new to slavery.

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So, she starts teaching
Douglass how to read.

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(soft inquisitive music)

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[Spires] And Hugh Auld
catches him and is incensed.

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And he says,
"If you teach him how to read,

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he will no longer be fit
for enslavement."

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[Morris] And Frederick heard
that message loud and clear.

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(laughs) And he looked at his
enslaver and he thought,

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"Hmm, if you don't want
me to have this,

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I'm going to do everything in
my power to gain it."

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[Douglass] Wise as Mr. Auld was,
he evidently underrated

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my comprehension.

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And the very determination which
he expressed to keep me in

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ignorance only rendered me
the more resolute

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in seeking intelligence.

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[Stauffer] He lived in
a neighborhood in Baltimore

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with a number of comparatively
poor immigrant boys.

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And Sophia Auld would
make biscuits, uh,

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and he would...he would fill
his pockets with biscuits

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and trade biscuits for words,
asking the boys

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who were learning how to read
what they meant.

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And from them,
he learned how to read.

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He learned how to write.

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He took some chalk and would
practice his handwriting

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on the streets of Baltimore.

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And that's how he learned
how to read and write.

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[Spires] Literacy became
a kind of gateway

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uh an inflection point
for him, right?

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Learning to read was about
access to literally

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reading words on the page, but
it was also access to knowledge.

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So, one of the books
he mentions, again and again,

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is "The Columbian Orator."

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(somber music)
(pages flipping)

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[Stauffer] The two main books
that Douglass read were,

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one, the Bible.

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The other book that he read
was "The Columbian Orator",

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which is a collection of
speeches designed for young boys

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who didn't have the privilege of
formal education to help them

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become effective speakers
and writers.

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[Spires] In that text,
he encounters a dialogue between

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an enslaved person
and his enslaver,

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where he sees this enslaved
person reason with the enslaver,

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and point by point,
dismantle all the justifications

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for enslavement.

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[Douglass] The master
was vanquished at every turn

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in the argument;
and he generously and meekly

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emancipates the slave with his
best wishes for his prosperity.

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And I could not help feeling
that the day might come,

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when the well-directed answers
made by the slave to the master

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would find their counterpart
in myself.

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[Spires] He notes that
when they worked him

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from sunup to sundown so that
he was too exhausted to think,

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those were the times when he
couldn't actually process

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his condition.

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But the minute he has
a moment to reflect,

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a moment to read or to stare out
on the Chesapeake

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those are the moments when
Douglass sees his condition,

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and recognizes,
"I'm not just enslaved.

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I'm a slave for life."

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What does that mean?

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(birds calling) (bell ringing)

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[Vincent Leggett] And he would
just look at the tall ships

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coming and going,

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00:12:05,766 --> 00:12:09,833
and their sails looked like
angels or ghosts

244
00:12:09,833 --> 00:12:10,966
floating in the air.

245
00:12:10,966 --> 00:12:15,400
And he would just ask hisself,
"Why am I a slave?

246
00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:19,266
Why am I in this hot Hell when
the gallant ships go all over

247
00:12:19,266 --> 00:12:22,833
the habitable globe,
and I'm here in this bondage?

248
00:12:22,833 --> 00:12:27,100
Oh, if I was free,
if I could fly, if I could swim,

249
00:12:27,100 --> 00:12:29,266
I'd run away.

250
00:12:29,266 --> 00:12:32,500
Just 100 miles north,
I'd be free.

251
00:12:32,500 --> 00:12:34,800
I'd get on a boat and
I'll set it adrift,

252
00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:37,666
and this bay shall yet bear me
to freedom."

253
00:12:37,666 --> 00:12:40,200
(somber music)

254
00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:44,866
(tools clacking)

255
00:12:44,866 --> 00:12:49,766
♪
I'll be so glad when
(oh when) the sun goes down ♪

256
00:12:49,766 --> 00:12:51,866
♪
when the sun go down ♪

257
00:12:51,866 --> 00:12:57,366
♪
I'll be so glad when
(ah-ha) the sun goes down ♪

258
00:12:57,366 --> 00:12:59,633
♪
when the sun go down ♪

259
00:12:59,633 --> 00:13:01,533
[Douglass] There was,
in the Bay Side,

260
00:13:01,533 --> 00:13:04,266
a man named Edward Covey,

261
00:13:04,266 --> 00:13:07,200
who enjoyed the execrated
reputation of being

262
00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:12,400
a first-rate hand at breaking
young Negroes.

263
00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:14,366
If at any one time of my life

264
00:13:14,366 --> 00:13:17,833
I was made to drink the
bitterest dregs of slavery,

265
00:13:17,833 --> 00:13:21,433
that time was during my stay
with Mr. Covey.

266
00:13:22,633 --> 00:13:24,633
[Spires] Douglass's time
with Edward Covey

267
00:13:24,633 --> 00:13:27,333
is a turning point in his life.

268
00:13:27,333 --> 00:13:31,133
He gets sent to Covey, the famed
breaker of enslaved people

269
00:13:31,133 --> 00:13:35,200
because he's gotten a bit
of a reputation as unruly,

270
00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:36,666
uncontrolled.

271
00:13:36,666 --> 00:13:39,000
He's been reading, he's been
holding Sunday Schools,

272
00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:40,133
he's tried to escape.

273
00:13:40,133 --> 00:13:43,233
He's done all this,
and so it's the last straw.

274
00:13:43,233 --> 00:13:46,100
"We're gonna finally break you."

275
00:13:46,100 --> 00:13:47,500
EDWARD BAPTIST: Individuals who
were suspected of being

276
00:13:47,500 --> 00:13:52,066
potential troublemakers, they
were sent to slave breakers.

277
00:13:52,066 --> 00:13:57,900
And his job was to get them in
the habit of submitting to

278
00:13:57,900 --> 00:13:59,600
the demands of slavery.

279
00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:01,733
(tense music)

280
00:14:01,733 --> 00:14:04,533
[Gerard Aching] Mr. Covey found
a particular niche

281
00:14:04,533 --> 00:14:06,666
in the economy for himself.

282
00:14:06,666 --> 00:14:10,333
That is to say not only did he
have slaves himself,

283
00:14:10,333 --> 00:14:13,433
but he found a niche in the
sense that he was able to

284
00:14:13,433 --> 00:14:19,033
create a reputation for himself
as being able to discipline.

285
00:14:19,033 --> 00:14:21,933
[Edward Baptist] Douglass sees
Covey's task as one of

286
00:14:21,933 --> 00:14:26,733
transforming him into a brute,
and a brute, in that context,

287
00:14:26,733 --> 00:14:28,500
is a farm animal.

288
00:14:28,500 --> 00:14:31,700
It's something below human.

289
00:14:31,700 --> 00:14:34,500
[Bromell] Edward Covey would
give you scantiest of allowances

290
00:14:34,500 --> 00:14:40,133
and clothing, and work you
endlessly, endlessly, endlessly.

291
00:14:40,133 --> 00:14:45,266
And the whole idea was just
to break a person in body,

292
00:14:45,266 --> 00:14:48,400
and that would break them
in spirit.

293
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:50,566
[Douglass] I had brought my mind
to a firm resolve

294
00:14:50,566 --> 00:14:53,700
to obey every order,
however unreasonable.

295
00:14:53,700 --> 00:14:57,600
And if Mr. Covey should
then undertake to beat me,

296
00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:00,466
I would defend and protect
myself to the best

297
00:15:00,466 --> 00:15:02,533
of my ability.

298
00:15:04,466 --> 00:15:05,733
[Baptist] For those
several months,

299
00:15:05,733 --> 00:15:08,700
Covey gave Douglass
his full attention.

300
00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:10,500
So, whenever Douglass was
working in the field,

301
00:15:10,500 --> 00:15:15,300
Covey found some fault with his
work and would harass him

302
00:15:15,300 --> 00:15:20,400
and shout at him and on
multiple occasions, beat him.

303
00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,866
[Morris] After six months
of taking these brutal beatings,

304
00:15:23,866 --> 00:15:25,566
Frederick had enough.

305
00:15:25,566 --> 00:15:27,166
(dramatic music)
(insects chirping)

306
00:15:27,166 --> 00:15:30,266
[Morris] He and Covey had this
epic two-hour battle

307
00:15:30,266 --> 00:15:32,700
that was more of a wrestling
match than a fisticuffs,

308
00:15:32,700 --> 00:15:35,066
because Frederick understood
that he needed to use his mind

309
00:15:35,066 --> 00:15:36,633
and be strategic.

310
00:15:36,633 --> 00:15:39,600
(men grunting)

311
00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:43,766
[Bromell] His intention was not
to defeat and punish Covey

312
00:15:43,766 --> 00:15:45,900
to the greatest extent possible.

313
00:15:45,900 --> 00:15:49,700
It was simply to draw a line
and say,

314
00:15:49,700 --> 00:15:53,300
"If you...if you try to
come after me physically,

315
00:15:53,300 --> 00:15:56,233
you're...this is what you are
going to get."

316
00:15:56,233 --> 00:15:58,333
(men grunting)

317
00:15:58,333 --> 00:16:02,233
[Spires] Covey himself was
in a bit of a precarious spot.

318
00:16:02,233 --> 00:16:06,666
He had the reputation
as the slave breaker.

319
00:16:06,666 --> 00:16:11,733
And so, to retaliate in a way
that was visible, as in,

320
00:16:11,733 --> 00:16:15,433
"I could not break Douglass,
therefore I had to kill him,"

321
00:16:15,433 --> 00:16:18,900
was against Covey's
best interest.

322
00:16:18,900 --> 00:16:20,366
[Douglass] This battle
with Mr. Covey

323
00:16:20,366 --> 00:16:23,600
was the turning point
in my life as a slave.

324
00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:27,733
It rekindled in my breast the
smoldering embers of liberty.

325
00:16:27,733 --> 00:16:29,566
I was nothing before.

326
00:16:29,566 --> 00:16:32,133
I was a man now.

327
00:16:33,500 --> 00:16:37,300
(somber music)

328
00:16:37,300 --> 00:16:40,233
[Baptist] After that incident,
there was a great deal

329
00:16:40,233 --> 00:16:43,000
of discussion among his owners
about possibly selling him

330
00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,766
down to Alabama or Mississippi,
to the cotton states

331
00:16:46,766 --> 00:16:49,433
to sort of get him
off their plate.

332
00:16:51,333 --> 00:16:52,600
[Amy Murell Taylor]
Enslaved people in Maryland

333
00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:56,866
lived with the constant fear
that they or a family member

334
00:16:56,866 --> 00:16:59,366
could be sold down into
the Deep South,

335
00:16:59,366 --> 00:17:02,333
and so that daily fear was
always with them,

336
00:17:02,333 --> 00:17:06,166
even as they're looking north
and seeing Pennsylvania

337
00:17:06,166 --> 00:17:09,133
not that far in the distance.

338
00:17:09,133 --> 00:17:14,366
It was still a very dangerous,
very scary proposition to flee.

339
00:17:14,366 --> 00:17:18,100
But Pennsylvania was not as far
away for them as it was for,

340
00:17:18,100 --> 00:17:19,800
say, Mississippi.

341
00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:20,566
(insects chirping)

342
00:17:22,133 --> 00:17:24,666
[Stauffer] Douglass and some
fellow slaves,

343
00:17:24,666 --> 00:17:26,100
tried to run away.

344
00:17:26,100 --> 00:17:28,366
They tried to escape
up to free soil.

345
00:17:28,366 --> 00:17:30,100
They were caught.

346
00:17:30,100 --> 00:17:36,166
And other planters on the
Eastern Shore told Thomas Auld

347
00:17:36,166 --> 00:17:39,933
that Douglass was trouble
and that they wanted to

348
00:17:39,933 --> 00:17:42,333
kill Douglass, essentially.

349
00:17:42,333 --> 00:17:43,733
[Stauffer] From Thomas Auld's
perspective,

350
00:17:43,733 --> 00:17:45,733
Douglass is property.

351
00:17:45,733 --> 00:17:48,133
To protect his property,
he had Douglass...

352
00:17:48,133 --> 00:17:51,200
he sent Douglass
back to Baltimore.

353
00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:59,166
♪
I'm gonna sail like a ship
mmm... on that ocean ♪

354
00:17:59,166 --> 00:18:05,233
♪
I'm gonna sail like a ship
on that ocean ♪

355
00:18:05,233 --> 00:18:06,400
[Leggett] Once he got to
Baltimore,

356
00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:09,833
which was a thriving
shipbuilding point,

357
00:18:09,833 --> 00:18:14,766
Fells Point in Baltimore,
he would see people of color

358
00:18:14,766 --> 00:18:17,966
from all around coming into
Fells Point not only

359
00:18:17,966 --> 00:18:22,433
to get their boats repaired but
bringing in cargo.

360
00:18:22,433 --> 00:18:29,166
♪ Well, I'm gonna sail till
I see my dear old mother, ♪

361
00:18:29,166 --> 00:18:31,600
[Douglass] In a few weeks after
I went to Baltimore,

362
00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,933
Master Hugh hired me to
Mr. William Gardner,

363
00:18:34,933 --> 00:18:38,166
and extensive ship builder
on Fells Point.

364
00:18:38,166 --> 00:18:41,333
I was put there to
learn how to caulk.

365
00:18:41,333 --> 00:18:42,866
(gentle music)

366
00:18:42,866 --> 00:18:45,933
[Leggett] The Caulkers are
a high-skilled position

367
00:18:45,933 --> 00:18:48,966
to help repair wooden vessels.

368
00:18:48,966 --> 00:18:52,566
And Frederick Douglass became
very skilled in that craft

369
00:18:52,566 --> 00:18:55,200
as well as many other
African Americans

370
00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:58,300
in Baltimore's Fells Point.

371
00:18:58,300 --> 00:19:01,633
[Spires] In Baltimore, you have
a really robust

372
00:19:01,633 --> 00:19:05,533
free Black population
with AME Church.

373
00:19:05,533 --> 00:19:07,466
[Chatelain] The AME Church
was central

374
00:19:07,466 --> 00:19:12,400
in not only creating a space for
African Americans to worship,

375
00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,600
but creating a network of
support for African Americans

376
00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,533
who were committed to
anti-slavery.

377
00:19:18,533 --> 00:19:19,933
[Bonner] The church
made possible a lot

378
00:19:19,933 --> 00:19:22,833
of Frederick Douglass's life,
it made it possible for him

379
00:19:22,833 --> 00:19:26,300
to meet Anna Murray and meeting
Anna Murray was really

380
00:19:26,300 --> 00:19:29,466
what made it possible for
Douglass to get free.

381
00:19:29,466 --> 00:19:31,000
[Morris] There would be
no Frederick Douglass

382
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,200
without Anna.

383
00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:36,333
They met in Baltimore when
Frederick was a teenager,

384
00:19:36,333 --> 00:19:38,833
enslaved.

385
00:19:38,833 --> 00:19:41,200
As they started thinking about
a life together,

386
00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:44,033
Anna was one of the first people
to plant the seed of thought

387
00:19:44,033 --> 00:19:45,833
in his mind that,
"Frederick, you're not meant

388
00:19:45,833 --> 00:19:47,366
to be a slave for life.

389
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,333
It doesn't matter what your
enslaver says to you."

390
00:19:51,333 --> 00:19:54,333
And as they're starting to think
about a life together, she said,

391
00:19:54,333 --> 00:19:56,633
"Frederick, I don't want
our children's father

392
00:19:56,633 --> 00:19:58,466
to be a slave."

393
00:19:58,466 --> 00:20:00,833
[Baptist] The only way that
they can get married,

394
00:20:00,833 --> 00:20:03,833
and have a family and live
the way that they wanna live

395
00:20:03,833 --> 00:20:09,166
is for him to escape and, and
her to meet him in the north.

396
00:20:10,700 --> 00:20:14,333
The problem is, the steamboats,
the railroads,

397
00:20:14,333 --> 00:20:17,000
the road crossings into
Pennsylvania,

398
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,266
all of these are guarded.

399
00:20:19,266 --> 00:20:21,966
African American individuals had
to carry their free papers

400
00:20:21,966 --> 00:20:24,333
in order to get through those
different checkpoints.

401
00:20:24,333 --> 00:20:28,600
So, it's quite a quandary,

402
00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:31,133
but they come up with
a plan to pass him off

403
00:20:31,133 --> 00:20:34,066
as a free Black sailor.

404
00:20:34,066 --> 00:20:37,633
[Leggett] The U.S. Navy had more
people of color in their ranks

405
00:20:37,633 --> 00:20:40,333
than any other branch of
service.

406
00:20:40,333 --> 00:20:44,766
There was a brotherhood
of people of the sea.

407
00:20:44,766 --> 00:20:47,033
It didn't matter whether you
were Black or White,

408
00:20:47,033 --> 00:20:49,433
if you had your seamen's papers.

409
00:20:49,433 --> 00:20:51,700
(somber music)

410
00:20:51,700 --> 00:20:57,366
[Baptist] What Anna does is get
him, a suit of sailor's clothes.

411
00:20:57,366 --> 00:21:00,600
They borrow a set of,
of papers that sailors carried

412
00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:03,300
when they travel to different
ports so they wouldn't be,

413
00:21:03,300 --> 00:21:05,666
arrested.

414
00:21:05,666 --> 00:21:09,033
And so, this is his disguise.

415
00:21:09,033 --> 00:21:11,800
[Leggett] So, Frederick Douglass
took the train up

416
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,700
to the Susquehanna River.

417
00:21:14,700 --> 00:21:17,400
They were so used to seeing
the blue jackets

418
00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:19,733
and the gold buttons with
the eagles on it.

419
00:21:19,733 --> 00:21:21,533
That wasn't news.

420
00:21:21,533 --> 00:21:23,233
(somber music)

421
00:21:23,233 --> 00:21:26,333
[Baptist] This is how he is able
to board a train,

422
00:21:26,333 --> 00:21:30,366
board a steamer, and ultimately,
make it across

423
00:21:30,366 --> 00:21:33,666
the Mason Dixon line,
first to Philadelphia,

424
00:21:33,666 --> 00:21:37,300
and Delaware,
and then on to New York,

425
00:21:37,300 --> 00:21:39,800
where he meets up with
Anna again,

426
00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:41,633
he gets married to her.

427
00:21:41,633 --> 00:21:45,233
(background sounds of city)
(somber music)

428
00:21:45,233 --> 00:21:47,466
[Morris] Had she not sold her
personal belongings

429
00:21:47,466 --> 00:21:50,366
to help finance his escape,
who knows if he would've had

430
00:21:50,366 --> 00:21:53,266
the courage or the wherewithal
to escape.

431
00:21:53,266 --> 00:21:56,200
And had that not happened,
we would be a very different

432
00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:57,866
country sitting here today.

433
00:21:58,300 --> 00:22:02,000
(bells ringing)
(somber music)

434
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,466
[Morris] It was suggested that
Frederick and Anna

435
00:22:04,466 --> 00:22:06,866
go to New Bedford so he
could get work.

436
00:22:06,866 --> 00:22:10,200
♪ ♪

437
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:13,200
[Douglass] Once, initiated
into my new life of freedom,

438
00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:16,033
a comparatively unimportant
question arose as to a name

439
00:22:16,033 --> 00:22:19,633
by which I should be known
thereafter.

440
00:22:19,633 --> 00:22:21,966
Between Baltimore
and New Bedford,

441
00:22:21,966 --> 00:22:24,733
the better to conceal myself
from the slave hunters,

442
00:22:24,733 --> 00:22:28,500
I had parted with Bailey
and called myself

443
00:22:28,500 --> 00:22:31,200
"Frederick Douglass."

444
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:32,366
(soft optimistic music)

445
00:22:32,366 --> 00:22:33,766
[Bonner] Even though he changes
his last name

446
00:22:33,766 --> 00:22:38,000
and becomes Frederick Douglass,
he holds on to the "Frederick."

447
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,533
That's a...a sort of an
essential part of his identity.

448
00:22:41,533 --> 00:22:44,366
He feels some connection to
that name,

449
00:22:44,366 --> 00:22:46,666
a name that was likely or
possibly given to him

450
00:22:46,666 --> 00:22:49,566
by his mother,
and he doesn't want to abandon

451
00:22:49,566 --> 00:22:53,700
that entire sense of who he is,
even as he is building

452
00:22:53,700 --> 00:22:55,666
a new life for himself.

453
00:22:55,666 --> 00:22:57,666
(bells ringing)
(birds calling)

454
00:22:58,866 --> 00:23:04,466
♪ I am an abolitionist,
I glory in thy name, ♪

455
00:23:04,466 --> 00:23:08,600
♪ though now my slavery's
minions hiss'd ♪

456
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,800
♪ and covered o'er
with shame. ♪

457
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:17,333
♪ It is a spell of
light and power, ♪

458
00:23:17,333 --> 00:23:19,500
♪ the watchword
of the free ♪

459
00:23:19,500 --> 00:23:20,900
[Robert Levine] New Bedford
had a lot of things

460
00:23:20,900 --> 00:23:23,033
going for her, for one there was
a Black community there,

461
00:23:23,033 --> 00:23:26,966
and Douglass became exposed to
the abolitionist movement

462
00:23:26,966 --> 00:23:29,166
that was really hot in
Massachusetts,

463
00:23:29,166 --> 00:23:31,233
led by William Lloyd Garrison.

464
00:23:31,233 --> 00:23:35,466
♪ A nobler strife
the world never saw ♪

465
00:23:35,466 --> 00:23:38,733
♪ Th'enslaved to disenthral ♪

466
00:23:38,733 --> 00:23:40,066
[ERIC FONER]
William Lloyd Garrison

467
00:23:40,066 --> 00:23:42,733
was one of the most prominent
abolitionists in the country,

468
00:23:42,733 --> 00:23:46,233
the editor of the Liberator,
a weekly newspaper,

469
00:23:46,233 --> 00:23:49,566
which was fervently anti-slavery
and for the rights

470
00:23:49,566 --> 00:23:51,066
of African Americans.

471
00:23:52,266 --> 00:23:56,233
[Douglass] I love this paper
and its editor.

472
00:23:56,233 --> 00:23:59,700
He was never loud and noisy,
but calm and serene

473
00:23:59,700 --> 00:24:03,766
as a summer sky and as pure.

474
00:24:03,766 --> 00:24:09,633
And his paper took a place in my
heart second only to the Bible.

475
00:24:09,633 --> 00:24:11,400
[Morris] Garrison was fighting
for justice,

476
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:13,866
and he was fighting for
equality.

477
00:24:13,866 --> 00:24:16,766
And Frederick knew what
injustice felt like.

478
00:24:16,766 --> 00:24:19,033
He knew what inequality
felt like,

479
00:24:19,033 --> 00:24:22,300
and that's when Frederick
really began to speak out

480
00:24:22,300 --> 00:24:25,166
about his enslavement.

481
00:24:25,166 --> 00:24:29,133
♪ ♪

482
00:24:29,133 --> 00:24:33,100
[Spires] In the 19th Century,
oratory was a huge deal.

483
00:24:33,100 --> 00:24:37,033
Going to an oration,
going to a debate

484
00:24:37,033 --> 00:24:39,900
was the equivalent of going to
the movies.

485
00:24:40,866 --> 00:24:42,633
[Stauffer] For the next several
years Douglass traveled

486
00:24:42,633 --> 00:24:45,700
throughout the North and what's
now the Upper-Midwest,

487
00:24:45,700 --> 00:24:49,033
speaking out against slavery.

488
00:24:49,033 --> 00:24:53,500
Douglass in a sense was
so eloquent and elegant

489
00:24:53,500 --> 00:24:57,933
as a speaker that some whites
started to accuse him of being

490
00:24:57,933 --> 00:24:59,166
a fraud.

491
00:24:59,966 --> 00:25:01,300
[Douglass] People
doubt that I had ever been

492
00:25:01,300 --> 00:25:02,733
a slave.

493
00:25:02,733 --> 00:25:05,366
They said,
"I did not talk like a slave,

494
00:25:05,366 --> 00:25:09,466
look like a slave nor act like
a slave."

495
00:25:09,466 --> 00:25:14,266
Thus, I was in a pretty fair way
to be denounced as an imposter.

496
00:25:14,266 --> 00:25:15,666
[Morris] And so,
in order to prove

497
00:25:15,666 --> 00:25:18,633
he was who he claimed to be,
he wrote...

498
00:25:18,633 --> 00:25:20,566
"Narrative of the Life
of Frederick Douglass,

499
00:25:20,566 --> 00:25:22,900
An American Slave."

500
00:25:22,900 --> 00:25:24,300
[Bonner] The sort of concluding
piece of the title

501
00:25:24,300 --> 00:25:26,133
is "written by himself."

502
00:25:26,133 --> 00:25:29,900
Those words were really powerful
and challenging to a lot

503
00:25:29,900 --> 00:25:32,733
of what White Americans thought
was possible.

504
00:25:34,366 --> 00:25:36,800
[Morris] It was published in
1845.

505
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,833
It sold 4500 copies
in three months.

506
00:25:39,833 --> 00:25:41,466
You know, he was a star.

507
00:25:41,466 --> 00:25:42,900
And now,
he had another problem.

508
00:25:44,500 --> 00:25:45,733
[Bonner] Once he publishes
the narrative,

509
00:25:45,733 --> 00:25:47,600
he's probably the most famous
Black person in the world

510
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:49,000
at that point.

511
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:54,833
But he, in the narrative,
has outed himself as a fugitive.

512
00:25:54,833 --> 00:25:58,966
(somber music)
(hoofbeats clacking)

513
00:25:58,966 --> 00:26:03,366
(dramatic music)

514
00:26:03,366 --> 00:26:04,800
[Douglass] The writing of
my pamphlet in the spring

515
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:09,933
of 1845 endangered my liberty
and led me to seek a refuge

516
00:26:09,933 --> 00:26:14,700
from republican slavery in
monarchical England.

517
00:26:14,700 --> 00:26:16,966
[Bonner] Douglass goes
to the UK,

518
00:26:16,966 --> 00:26:20,666
in part to seek refuge but also
in part to continue to boost

519
00:26:20,666 --> 00:26:22,833
his political profile.

520
00:26:22,833 --> 00:26:26,700
And when he goes there,
he is incredibly well-received.

521
00:26:26,700 --> 00:26:28,900
(audience applauding)

522
00:26:30,133 --> 00:26:31,700
[Chatelain]
When Frederick Douglass arrives

523
00:26:31,700 --> 00:26:38,700
in the UK, he is celebrated
as the moral and social

524
00:26:38,700 --> 00:26:42,033
and political voice of
the anti-slavery movement.

525
00:26:42,033 --> 00:26:46,600
He becomes a global figure that
represents the brutality

526
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:51,566
of slavery and the possibility
of freedom.

527
00:26:51,566 --> 00:26:53,366
[Griffin] When Douglass
goes to England,

528
00:26:53,366 --> 00:26:58,933
he is embraced by a community
of radical-thinking people.

529
00:26:58,933 --> 00:27:04,066
And he is allowed to become,
even more of who

530
00:27:04,066 --> 00:27:07,066
he already is because of
the community there

531
00:27:07,066 --> 00:27:09,166
that embraces him.

532
00:27:09,166 --> 00:27:10,666
(dark introspective music)

533
00:27:12,100 --> 00:27:14,000
[Bromell] People start saying
to him,

534
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,766
"We can raise money to...uh,
buy you out of slavery.

535
00:27:16,766 --> 00:27:19,500
We can offer...er... your slave
master a sum of money

536
00:27:19,500 --> 00:27:22,966
that basically he can't refuse."

537
00:27:22,966 --> 00:27:26,633
The Garrisonians thought,
"No, you can't do that."

538
00:27:26,633 --> 00:27:30,033
Because to allow yourself to be
bought out of slavery

539
00:27:30,033 --> 00:27:35,233
tacitly accepted the principle
that slavery was legal.

540
00:27:36,366 --> 00:27:37,566
[Chatelain] By our standards
today,

541
00:27:37,566 --> 00:27:40,100
we would think it's ridiculous
that abolitionists

542
00:27:40,100 --> 00:27:43,900
would not embrace Douglass
securing his freedom.

543
00:27:43,900 --> 00:27:45,800
But I think that for many
of them,

544
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:49,766
they also understood that
Douglass was a political tool.

545
00:27:49,766 --> 00:27:53,466
And I think Douglass never saw
himself as that.

546
00:27:53,466 --> 00:27:58,366
He saw himself as a person
seeking freedom.

547
00:27:58,366 --> 00:28:00,866
[Douglass] I think,
the very best thing was done,

548
00:28:00,866 --> 00:28:04,566
in letting Master Hugh have
the 150 pounds sterling,

549
00:28:04,566 --> 00:28:08,800
and leaving me free to return to
my appropriate field of labor.

550
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:12,233
I could have easily remained in
England, for the same friends,

551
00:28:12,233 --> 00:28:14,933
who had so generously purchased
my freedom,

552
00:28:14,933 --> 00:28:16,833
would have assisted me
in establishing myself

553
00:28:16,833 --> 00:28:19,133
in that country.

554
00:28:19,133 --> 00:28:22,966
But I felt that I had a duty
to perform - and that was,

555
00:28:22,966 --> 00:28:28,300
to labor and suffer with the
oppressed in my native land.

556
00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:31,800
(people chattering)

557
00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:33,533
[Bonner] After returning from
the UK,

558
00:28:33,533 --> 00:28:37,066
Douglass became increasingly
sure about his capacity

559
00:28:37,066 --> 00:28:40,633
to sort of act as an independent
political figure.

560
00:28:40,633 --> 00:28:43,966
But he also was developing
into a person who was more

561
00:28:43,966 --> 00:28:46,600
comfortable with his own
political ideas.

562
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:47,500
[Morris] You know, at first,

563
00:28:47,500 --> 00:28:50,566
Frederick was Garrison's
protégé,

564
00:28:50,566 --> 00:28:52,300
and so Garrison said to
Frederick,

565
00:28:52,300 --> 00:28:55,900
"You just tell your story and,
and leave the thinking to us."

566
00:28:55,900 --> 00:28:58,366
(somber music)

567
00:28:58,366 --> 00:29:00,000
[Douglass] "Tell your story
Frederick,"

568
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,300
would whisper my revered friend
Mr. Garrison,

569
00:29:03,300 --> 00:29:06,833
as I stepped upon the platform.

570
00:29:06,833 --> 00:29:10,200
I could not always follow
the injunction.

571
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,133
It did not entirely satisfy
me to narrate wrongs.

572
00:29:13,133 --> 00:29:15,100
I felt like denouncing them."

573
00:29:15,100 --> 00:29:17,866
(somber music)

574
00:29:17,866 --> 00:29:19,400
[Bromell] White abolitionists
think there is only

575
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:21,000
one point of view.

576
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:25,266
But Douglass wants a role that's
much wider than this,

577
00:29:25,266 --> 00:29:29,100
a scripted role of someone who
simply opposed to slavery,

578
00:29:29,100 --> 00:29:32,700
Douglass is someone who is now
prepared to contest

579
00:29:32,700 --> 00:29:36,333
a...a more widespread system
of injustices.

580
00:29:36,333 --> 00:29:38,200
And this was one of the reasons
why he wanted to start

581
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,333
The North Star, his newspaper.

582
00:29:40,833 --> 00:29:42,933
[Chatelain]
For Frederick Douglass,

583
00:29:42,933 --> 00:29:45,500
starting the North Star was
critical to create

584
00:29:45,500 --> 00:29:48,200
a Black voice of abolition.

585
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:50,833
There were other abolitionist
newspapers,

586
00:29:50,833 --> 00:29:55,333
but very few spoke to the
question of the end of slavery

587
00:29:55,333 --> 00:29:57,900
from the perspective of
Black people.

588
00:29:57,900 --> 00:30:02,700
[Douglass] Right is of no sex,
truth is of no color,

589
00:30:02,700 --> 00:30:08,666
God is the father of us all
and all we are brethren.

590
00:30:08,666 --> 00:30:11,500
[Spires] Editors rule the day.

591
00:30:11,500 --> 00:30:16,533
The editors of the newspaper
really shaped who saw what,

592
00:30:16,533 --> 00:30:18,100
where and when.

593
00:30:18,100 --> 00:30:20,600
And so, to have a newspaper
was to be the shaper

594
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:21,966
of public opinion.

595
00:30:23,166 --> 00:30:26,166
Founding the newspaper is sort
of like Douglass's declaration

596
00:30:26,166 --> 00:30:28,833
of intellectual and activist
independence.

597
00:30:30,533 --> 00:30:32,666
[Douglass] The North Star
was published weekly,

598
00:30:32,666 --> 00:30:36,633
and averaged circulation of
3000 subscribers.

599
00:30:36,633 --> 00:30:40,400
I had an audience to
speak to every week.

600
00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:42,533
[Keith Leonard] Douglass had
this capacity to be

601
00:30:42,533 --> 00:30:44,533
a great editor,
to be a great political leader,

602
00:30:44,533 --> 00:30:46,333
but his vision was different
from Garrison's,

603
00:30:46,333 --> 00:30:48,700
and Garrison couldn't
roll with that.

604
00:30:50,366 --> 00:30:52,166
William Lloyd Garrison was
not only disagreeing

605
00:30:52,166 --> 00:30:55,566
with the political strategy but
also objecting or felt kind

606
00:30:55,566 --> 00:30:57,566
of offended that Douglass
was splitting from him.

607
00:30:57,566 --> 00:30:59,966
He even recommended that
his followers not read

608
00:30:59,966 --> 00:31:01,733
Douglass's newspaper.

609
00:31:01,733 --> 00:31:03,433
[Spires] Douglass says,
"I am no longer going to be

610
00:31:03,433 --> 00:31:06,000
dependent on your infrastructure
to give me voice,

611
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,266
I'm going to take my own voice."

612
00:31:08,266 --> 00:31:12,000
And that's the point where
Douglass is in a seat of power.

613
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:13,433
And so,
when you read something like,

614
00:31:13,433 --> 00:31:15,966
"What to the Slave is
the Fourth of July"

615
00:31:15,966 --> 00:31:20,866
you get a sense that Douglass
saw words as battleaxes.

616
00:31:20,866 --> 00:31:27,800
(Upbeat marching flute music)

617
00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:29,733
[Douglass] What,
to the American slave,

618
00:31:29,733 --> 00:31:33,233
is your fourth of July?

619
00:31:33,233 --> 00:31:38,266
I answer a day that reveals to
him more than all of the days

620
00:31:38,266 --> 00:31:41,533
in the year the gross injustice
and cruelty to which

621
00:31:41,533 --> 00:31:44,566
he is the constant victim.

622
00:31:44,566 --> 00:31:49,600
To him,
your celebration is a sham,

623
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:52,800
your boasted liberty
and unholy license,

624
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:56,000
your national greatness,
swelling vanity,

625
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:59,300
your sounds of rejoicing
are empty and heartless,

626
00:31:59,300 --> 00:32:02,700
your denunciation of tyrants,
brass fronted impudence,

627
00:32:02,700 --> 00:32:04,866
your shouts of liberty
and equality,

628
00:32:04,866 --> 00:32:08,800
hollow mockery, your prayers,
and hymns,

629
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,300
your sermons, and thanksgivings
with all your religious parade

630
00:32:12,300 --> 00:32:19,100
and solemnity are to him mere
bombast, fraud, deception,

631
00:32:19,100 --> 00:32:22,600
impiety and hypocrisy.

632
00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:26,533
A thin veil to cover up crimes
which would disgrace a nation

633
00:32:26,533 --> 00:32:28,666
of savages.

634
00:32:28,666 --> 00:32:32,900
There is not a nation on the
earth guilty of practices

635
00:32:32,900 --> 00:32:35,533
more shocking and bloody
than are the people

636
00:32:35,533 --> 00:32:40,233
of the United States
at this very hour.

637
00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:44,133
(tense music)

638
00:32:44,133 --> 00:32:49,333
[Douglass] This Fourth of July
is yours, not mine.

639
00:32:49,333 --> 00:32:53,166
Why am I called upon
to speak here today?

640
00:32:53,166 --> 00:32:55,666
What have I,
or those I represent,

641
00:32:55,666 --> 00:32:58,066
to do with your
national independence?

642
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,000
(marching drums music)

643
00:33:08,566 --> 00:33:10,833
[Spires] In speeches and essays
Douglass talks about

644
00:33:10,833 --> 00:33:14,433
the daguerreotype,
developed in 1840s

645
00:33:14,433 --> 00:33:18,400
as one of the central modern
marvels of the day.

646
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:22,200
As important as...say,
the telegraph for its ability

647
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:26,100
to capture a reality,
unfiltered.

648
00:33:26,100 --> 00:33:28,200
And so, Douglass saw
in photography,

649
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:32,400
a way to show African descended
people as they were,

650
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:34,600
in all their beauty.

651
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,666
[Stauffer] Douglass recognized
the degree to which

652
00:33:37,666 --> 00:33:42,766
representation itself could
be a powerful mechanism

653
00:33:42,766 --> 00:33:46,333
for ending slavery,
for achieving universal freedom

654
00:33:46,333 --> 00:33:48,466
and equality.

655
00:33:48,466 --> 00:33:52,033
And throughout his life,
Douglass recognized

656
00:33:52,033 --> 00:33:54,366
the power of the image.

657
00:33:54,366 --> 00:33:58,700
(strong orchestra music)

658
00:33:58,700 --> 00:34:00,533
[Lewis] We now understand
that Frederick Douglass

659
00:34:00,533 --> 00:34:02,900
is the most photographed
American man

660
00:34:02,900 --> 00:34:06,333
in the 19th century,
not African American man,

661
00:34:06,333 --> 00:34:08,033
but American man.

662
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,566
He consciously put himself
in front of the camera

663
00:34:12,566 --> 00:34:16,800
because he understood the
democratic power of that new

664
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:19,033
technological medium.

665
00:34:19,033 --> 00:34:21,600
[Levine] Frederick Douglass
was obsessed with the way

666
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:23,866
that Black people were
stereotyped;

667
00:34:23,866 --> 00:34:25,700
that they were made to look
stupid,

668
00:34:25,700 --> 00:34:28,066
they were made to look savage.

669
00:34:28,066 --> 00:34:33,100
So, he became preoccupied
with how he looked.

670
00:34:33,100 --> 00:34:37,866
And you look at the images
themselves and you see

671
00:34:37,866 --> 00:34:39,566
that he's up to something.

672
00:34:39,566 --> 00:34:42,233
It's, presenting himself
in this particular way.

673
00:34:42,233 --> 00:34:46,366
He is serious, he's engaged,
he's really smart.

674
00:34:46,366 --> 00:34:49,900
[Lewis] He understood the way
in which his embodied form

675
00:34:49,900 --> 00:34:53,700
self-possessed, dignified,
masterful,

676
00:34:53,700 --> 00:34:57,533
could create a weapon to counter
the sea of racist stereotypes

677
00:34:57,533 --> 00:35:00,700
that surrounded Douglass
and everyone

678
00:35:00,700 --> 00:35:03,533
in the dis-United States
at that time.

679
00:35:03,533 --> 00:35:05,366
(camera flash)

680
00:35:05,366 --> 00:35:07,566
(upbeat orchestra music)

681
00:35:07,566 --> 00:35:08,833
[Morris] Frederick said,
"When you look

682
00:35:08,833 --> 00:35:11,733
at a photograph of me,
you're never going to deny

683
00:35:11,733 --> 00:35:14,600
that I'm a man worthy of freedom
and citizenship.

684
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,666
You're going to look me in the
eye and see my humanity."

685
00:35:19,133 --> 00:35:22,166
[Lewis] You can see in his gaze
that he's not afraid

686
00:35:22,166 --> 00:35:23,400
of the camera.

687
00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:25,866
He's able to go toe-to-toe
with the camera,

688
00:35:25,866 --> 00:35:28,000
he's able to hold his gaze.

689
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:30,800
He commands your attention.

690
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:33,966
And Douglass is extraordinarily
handsome no matter what, uh,

691
00:35:33,966 --> 00:35:36,200
vantage point you
want to use (laughs).

692
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:37,966
Whatever standard of
beauty you've got,

693
00:35:37,966 --> 00:35:40,100
Douglass gives it to you.

694
00:35:40,100 --> 00:35:41,966
[Spires] Douglass was
meticulous in how he himself

695
00:35:41,966 --> 00:35:42,866
photographed.

696
00:35:42,866 --> 00:35:44,666
He was always dressed
to the hilt.

697
00:35:44,666 --> 00:35:48,000
He was always intent on
his particular,

698
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:49,766
sort of how he would be posed.

699
00:35:49,766 --> 00:35:52,166
The head-on daguerreotype
of Douglass,

700
00:35:52,166 --> 00:35:56,933
with that piercing gaze,
right...was important.

701
00:35:56,933 --> 00:35:58,266
[Lewis] The central
question of the day

702
00:35:58,266 --> 00:36:02,300
for Frederick Douglass was,
"By what right does anyone

703
00:36:02,300 --> 00:36:06,166
have to own another human
being?"

704
00:36:06,166 --> 00:36:07,600
So when you're looking at
Frederick Douglass

705
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:12,466
in a photograph, you are seeing
insistent self-possession.

706
00:36:12,466 --> 00:36:16,066
You're seeing a refutation of
the very idea that slavery

707
00:36:16,066 --> 00:36:19,133
could even be possible.

708
00:36:19,133 --> 00:36:20,966
(slave gang chanting over the
sound of axes breaking rocks)

709
00:36:20,966 --> 00:36:38,666
♪ It makes a long,
long-time man oh feel bad ♪

710
00:36:38,666 --> 00:36:41,366
♪ It makes a long,
long-time man feel bad... ♪

711
00:36:41,366 --> 00:36:43,633
[Baptist] "Runaway from
the subscriber in Albemarle,

712
00:36:43,633 --> 00:36:47,233
a mulatto slave called Sandy,
about 35 years of age,

713
00:36:47,233 --> 00:36:50,433
his stature is rather low,
inclining to corpulence

714
00:36:50,433 --> 00:36:51,966
and his complexion, light.

715
00:36:51,966 --> 00:36:55,033
Whoever conveys the said
slave to me in Albemarle,

716
00:36:55,033 --> 00:36:59,033
shall have a 40 shillings reward
if taken up within the county.

717
00:36:59,033 --> 00:37:02,300
And ten pounds,
if in any other Colony.

718
00:37:02,300 --> 00:37:03,600
From Thomas Jefferson."

719
00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:08,733
♪ He was a long
Oh driving man ♪

720
00:37:08,733 --> 00:37:12,000
♪ Yes, he was
What got him done ♪

721
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,566
♪ He worked hard ♪

722
00:37:14,566 --> 00:37:16,000
[Baptist] What's remarkable
about this is that

723
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:17,566
it's not remarkable.

724
00:37:17,566 --> 00:37:21,066
It's Thomas Jefferson,
so we find it significant,

725
00:37:21,066 --> 00:37:25,533
but enslavers were placing these
kinds of ads in every state

726
00:37:25,533 --> 00:37:28,166
or territory where slavery
existed.

727
00:37:28,166 --> 00:37:31,100
(slave chain gang
indistinctly singing)

728
00:37:37,266 --> 00:37:38,866
[Baptist] Between the
ratification

729
00:37:38,866 --> 00:37:42,766
of the Constitution
1789 and 1850,

730
00:37:42,766 --> 00:37:45,733
there's increasing conflict
over the rendition

731
00:37:45,733 --> 00:37:48,433
of fugitives from slavery.

732
00:37:48,433 --> 00:37:51,466
And so, the southern-most
states: North Carolina,

733
00:37:51,466 --> 00:37:54,766
South Carolina, Georgia,
make a demand

734
00:37:54,766 --> 00:37:59,600
which is that they will
be able to claim anybody

735
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:03,033
who escapes from slavery
in the slave states

736
00:38:03,033 --> 00:38:04,333
to the free states.

737
00:38:04,333 --> 00:38:09,400
And this immediately puts
the freedom of every single

738
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:14,833
African American in the north at
a much greater level of threat.

739
00:38:14,833 --> 00:38:18,133
(solemn music)

740
00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:23,033
[Gloria Browne-Marshall]
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

741
00:38:23,033 --> 00:38:27,166
was the last ditch effort of
those slaveholder's

742
00:38:27,166 --> 00:38:31,733
who wanted to hold on to the
bondage and greed of slavery.

743
00:38:31,733 --> 00:38:33,900
(solemn music)

744
00:38:35,233 --> 00:38:37,900
[Amy Murrell Taylor]
The 1850 Fugitive Slave Act

745
00:38:37,900 --> 00:38:43,600
created enforcement mechanisms
that forced and required

746
00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:47,366
the federal government to get in
the business of sending back

747
00:38:47,366 --> 00:38:50,333
to slavery those who ran away.

748
00:38:50,333 --> 00:38:54,300
Now, the federal government
was going to go after

749
00:38:54,300 --> 00:38:57,533
those who had fled to
northern states.

750
00:38:57,533 --> 00:38:59,233
This hadn't happened before.

751
00:38:59,633 --> 00:39:02,200
[Browne-Marshall] What we saw
were these slaveholders

752
00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:05,966
who were very politically
connected and very wealthy,

753
00:39:05,966 --> 00:39:10,100
and they lobbied the Congress
to have a fugitive slave act

754
00:39:10,100 --> 00:39:13,166
that not only meant that their
escaped property

755
00:39:13,166 --> 00:39:16,866
would be brought back,
but anyone, Black or White,

756
00:39:16,866 --> 00:39:20,733
involved in assisting that
person to escape slavery

757
00:39:20,733 --> 00:39:23,500
would also have criminal
consequences.

758
00:39:25,700 --> 00:39:28,266
[Douglass] The hardships imposed
by this atrocious,

759
00:39:28,266 --> 00:39:32,533
and shameless law were cruel,
and shocking.

760
00:39:32,533 --> 00:39:38,033
Although, I was now myself free,
I was not without apprehension.

761
00:39:38,033 --> 00:39:41,133
Even colored people who had
been free all their lives

762
00:39:41,133 --> 00:39:44,366
felt themselves very insecure
in their freedom.

763
00:39:45,700 --> 00:39:47,800
[Levine] Douglass argued
in 1850 in the wake

764
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:51,966
of the Fugitive Slave Law being
passed that Blacks had the right

765
00:39:51,966 --> 00:39:55,266
to use violence to resist
fugitive slave catchers.

766
00:39:56,566 --> 00:39:58,033
[Douglass] It can never be
wrong for the imbrued

767
00:39:58,033 --> 00:40:03,700
and whip-scared slaves or their
friends to hunt, harass,

768
00:40:03,700 --> 00:40:08,500
and even strike down the
traffickers in human flesh.

769
00:40:08,500 --> 00:40:10,833
[Bonner] That was a radical
position,

770
00:40:10,833 --> 00:40:14,000
using violence as a way to a way
to challenge slave catchers.

771
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:16,800
And he says, "That the best way
to make the Fugitive Slave Act

772
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,000
a dead letter is to make two
or three dead kidnappers."

773
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,400
And he says, "That this is
a thing that's justifiable."

774
00:40:25,300 --> 00:40:26,800
[Browne-Marshall] After the
Fugitive Slave Act,

775
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:30,666
Frederick Douglass knew that
it would come to war.

776
00:40:30,666 --> 00:40:33,900
He realized just how deeply
entrenched as Southerners

777
00:40:33,900 --> 00:40:38,333
and many others were in this
institution of bondage.

778
00:40:38,333 --> 00:40:42,066
They were not going to willingly
give up slavery.

779
00:40:42,066 --> 00:40:44,500
(soft introspective music)

780
00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:50,133
[Foner] Lincoln was
running for president

781
00:40:50,133 --> 00:40:54,300
as a anti-slavery Republican
in 1860.

782
00:40:54,300 --> 00:40:55,666
On the one hand,
Douglass said,

783
00:40:55,666 --> 00:40:58,200
"Look, this guy is not
an abolitionist.

784
00:40:58,200 --> 00:40:59,233
We are abolitionists.

785
00:40:59,233 --> 00:41:01,266
We're demanding immediate end
to slavery.

786
00:41:01,266 --> 00:41:02,433
That's not Lincoln.

787
00:41:02,433 --> 00:41:06,200
On the other hand,
Lincoln is a major step forward

788
00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:08,166
in the struggle against
slavery."

789
00:41:08,166 --> 00:41:09,500
(dark introspective music)

790
00:41:10,500 --> 00:41:12,200
[Douglass] Abraham Lincoln
proposed his grand

791
00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:14,433
historic doctrine of
the power and duty

792
00:41:14,433 --> 00:41:18,033
of the national government to
prevent the spread

793
00:41:18,033 --> 00:41:21,600
and perpetuity of slavery.

794
00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:25,666
Into this contest, I threw
myself with firmer faith

795
00:41:25,666 --> 00:41:29,533
and more ardent hope
than ever before.

796
00:41:29,533 --> 00:41:34,166
And what I could do by pen or
voice was done with a will.

797
00:41:34,166 --> 00:41:35,700
(people chattering)

798
00:41:35,700 --> 00:41:37,400
[Stauffer] When Lincoln
was elected,

799
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:43,566
he was the first openly
anti-slavery president

800
00:41:43,566 --> 00:41:47,466
in the United States,
the first president

801
00:41:47,466 --> 00:41:50,700
for whom anti-slavery was
a central theme.

802
00:41:50,700 --> 00:41:52,966
Na....it's the first time.

803
00:41:52,966 --> 00:41:55,966
[Douglass] It was Mr. Lincoln
who told the American people

804
00:41:55,966 --> 00:42:03,333
that the Union could not long
endure half-slave and half-free,

805
00:42:03,333 --> 00:42:06,333
that they must be all one
or the other,

806
00:42:06,333 --> 00:42:09,466
that the public mind could
find no resting place

807
00:42:09,466 --> 00:42:13,233
but in the belief in the
ultimate extinction of slavery.

808
00:42:16,466 --> 00:42:18,766
[Foner] Slavery is not safe
under the rule

809
00:42:18,766 --> 00:42:20,700
of anti-slavery people.

810
00:42:20,700 --> 00:42:22,666
We're going to pick up our
marbles and go and set up

811
00:42:22,666 --> 00:42:26,433
a new country, the Confederate
States of America.

812
00:42:26,433 --> 00:42:32,533
(tense music)

813
00:42:32,533 --> 00:42:34,566
[Stauffer] Leaving, walking out,
seceding,

814
00:42:34,566 --> 00:42:37,066
it was always the trump card
of Southerners.

815
00:42:37,066 --> 00:42:39,500
And when Lincoln gives us
his inaugural address,

816
00:42:39,500 --> 00:42:40,866
seven states have seceded.

817
00:42:40,866 --> 00:42:45,233
The Confederacy's already
been formed.

818
00:42:45,233 --> 00:42:48,233
Douglass was actually,
cautiously very optimistic

819
00:42:48,233 --> 00:42:50,766
about secession,
because he recognized this

820
00:42:50,766 --> 00:42:54,833
as a golden opportunity to
destroy slavery.

821
00:42:54,833 --> 00:42:58,066
[Douglass] I confess to strongly
favoring the prospect

822
00:42:58,066 --> 00:43:01,966
of a conflict between
the North and the South.

823
00:43:01,966 --> 00:43:05,200
Standing outside the pale
of American humanity,

824
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:08,366
denied citizenship,
unable to call the land

825
00:43:08,366 --> 00:43:11,933
of my birth my country,
and longing for the end

826
00:43:11,933 --> 00:43:16,266
of the bondage of my people,
I was ready for any

827
00:43:16,266 --> 00:43:19,600
political upheaval which
should bring about a change

828
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,033
in the existing condition
of things.

829
00:43:23,900 --> 00:43:25,066
[Browne-Marshall]
Frederick Douglass knew

830
00:43:25,066 --> 00:43:27,666
how deeply invested
these Southerners

831
00:43:27,666 --> 00:43:30,400
were in their free labor.

832
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:31,966
Free labor.

833
00:43:31,966 --> 00:43:34,900
The cotton and other products
that came from slavery

834
00:43:34,900 --> 00:43:37,900
were bought and sold on the
New York Stock Exchange.

835
00:43:37,900 --> 00:43:40,100
This was not just
a Southern endeavor,

836
00:43:40,100 --> 00:43:43,566
and they were not going to
let it go, but for war.

837
00:43:43,566 --> 00:43:45,966
And so, he had to become
an advocate for something

838
00:43:45,966 --> 00:43:48,900
that he did not want -
and that was for one person

839
00:43:48,900 --> 00:43:52,833
to have to kill another in order
to break the bonds of slavery.

840
00:43:52,833 --> 00:43:58,300
(somber music)
(weapons firing)

841
00:44:11,033 --> 00:44:13,933
[Foner] When the war breaks out,
Lincoln says, you know,

842
00:44:13,933 --> 00:44:17,200
very explicitly,
"This is a war about the Union.

843
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:18,966
We are fighting to save
the Union.

844
00:44:18,966 --> 00:44:20,866
It is not about slavery.

845
00:44:20,866 --> 00:44:23,366
We are not going to threaten
the institution of slavery."

846
00:44:23,366 --> 00:44:27,766
And Douglass criticizes Lincoln
very harshly for not fighting

847
00:44:27,766 --> 00:44:33,633
an anti-slavery war, fighting
a war for the Union.

848
00:44:33,633 --> 00:44:36,300
[Abraham Lincoln] My paramount
object in this struggle

849
00:44:36,300 --> 00:44:39,966
is to save the Union,
and is not either to save

850
00:44:39,966 --> 00:44:43,466
or to destroy slavery.

851
00:44:43,466 --> 00:44:47,000
If I could save the Union
without freeing any slave,

852
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:50,933
I would do it, and if I could
save it by freeing

853
00:44:50,933 --> 00:44:54,733
all the slaves, I would do it.

854
00:44:54,733 --> 00:44:58,633
What I do about slavery
and the colored race,

855
00:44:58,633 --> 00:45:05,766
I do because I believe it
helps to save the Union.

856
00:45:05,766 --> 00:45:08,700
[Stauffer] Douglass,
from the beginning,

857
00:45:08,700 --> 00:45:13,400
emphasizes that a war
to preserve the Union

858
00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:21,000
is inseparable from a war to end
slavery because he understands

859
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:25,033
that the four million slaves
in the South constitute

860
00:45:25,033 --> 00:45:28,533
a potent source of Black power.

861
00:45:28,533 --> 00:45:31,633
So, Douglass emphasizes
right away,

862
00:45:31,633 --> 00:45:35,100
"Free slaves and arm them,
and this war will...will,

863
00:45:35,100 --> 00:45:37,766
we will win the war and it will
end it fairly quickly."

864
00:45:37,766 --> 00:45:42,000
(dramatic music)

865
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:45,400
[Bonner] In 1861 and 1862,
Douglass was a fierce critic

866
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:48,700
of Lincoln for refusing to
allow African Americans

867
00:45:48,700 --> 00:45:51,333
to enlist in the Union military.

868
00:45:51,333 --> 00:45:53,733
Douglass said from the
beginnings of the war

869
00:45:53,733 --> 00:45:56,133
that this war between slave
owners in the United States,

870
00:45:56,133 --> 00:45:59,066
that it would have to be a war
that would end slavery.

871
00:45:59,066 --> 00:46:01,833
But Lincoln was hesitant to do
that and...and Douglass

872
00:46:01,833 --> 00:46:04,533
was basically saying, "You are,
you're not doing your job.

873
00:46:04,533 --> 00:46:07,200
You are...ah...failing in this
project of...of running

874
00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:10,500
this war because you're trying
to fight it with one arm

875
00:46:10,500 --> 00:46:12,866
tied behind your back."

876
00:46:12,866 --> 00:46:15,766
[Douglass] I have implored
the imperiled nation

877
00:46:15,766 --> 00:46:20,100
to unchain against her foes
her powerful Black hand.

878
00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:27,700
The day dawns, the morning star
is bright upon the horizon,

879
00:46:27,700 --> 00:46:32,200
the iron gates of our prison
stands half-open.

880
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:36,166
One gallant rush from the North
will fling it wide open,

881
00:46:36,166 --> 00:46:39,066
while four millions of our
brothers and sisters

882
00:46:39,066 --> 00:46:42,200
shall march out into liberty.

883
00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:46,300
The chance is now given
you to end, in a day,

884
00:46:46,300 --> 00:46:48,100
the bondage of centuries.

885
00:46:50,166 --> 00:46:51,866
[Morris] Lincoln was
a politician,

886
00:46:51,866 --> 00:46:55,266
so he was truly on the fence,
and it would take somebody

887
00:46:55,266 --> 00:46:56,933
like Frederick Douglass,
who I think Lincoln

888
00:46:56,933 --> 00:47:00,600
had great respect for,
to say "Mr. President,

889
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:01,600
we can't wait."

890
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:02,866
(weapon fires)

891
00:47:02,866 --> 00:47:06,200
[Stauffer] The Emancipation
Proclamation authorizes,

892
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:11,033
formally and publicly, the
arming of Blacks as soldiers.

893
00:47:11,033 --> 00:47:12,700
They know the Southern
landscape in a way

894
00:47:12,700 --> 00:47:16,800
that Union soldiers don't.

895
00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:20,700
They end up becoming essentially
almost a special force

896
00:47:20,700 --> 00:47:22,433
for the army.

897
00:47:22,433 --> 00:47:26,633
And Douglass eagerly supports
the recruitment of Blacks

898
00:47:26,633 --> 00:47:29,266
as soldiers.

899
00:47:29,266 --> 00:47:33,600
And he recruits his two sons,
Charles and Lewis,

900
00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:36,700
for the first Northern Black
regiment,

901
00:47:36,700 --> 00:47:40,633
the Massachusetts 54th regiment.

902
00:47:40,633 --> 00:47:43,933
[Douglass] I now, for the
first time during this war,

903
00:47:43,933 --> 00:47:48,266
feel of liberty to call
and counsel you to arms.

904
00:47:48,266 --> 00:47:53,600
I urge you to fly to arms and
smite with death the power

905
00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:56,600
that would bury the government
and your liberty in the same

906
00:47:56,600 --> 00:47:59,266
hopeless grave.

907
00:47:59,266 --> 00:48:02,600
(people shouting)
(weapons firing)

908
00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:03,900
(somber music)

909
00:48:03,900 --> 00:48:05,833
[Taylor] The tide of
the war changes -

910
00:48:05,833 --> 00:48:11,366
with the fall of Atlanta,
with Lincoln's eventual victory

911
00:48:11,366 --> 00:48:13,800
in early November, 1864.

912
00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:18,166
His re-election has guaranteed
that he's going to now bring

913
00:48:18,166 --> 00:48:23,366
this war to a close and slavery
will end across the board.

914
00:48:23,366 --> 00:48:25,200
[Griffin] The fact that
a radical fugitive slave

915
00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:28,200
has the ear of the president
means that, ultimately,

916
00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:31,600
that president became
a very smart person.

917
00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:35,200
It is to his credit that
he learned to listen

918
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:36,966
to Frederick Douglass.

919
00:48:36,966 --> 00:48:39,333
I think, it also says
something about the crises

920
00:48:39,333 --> 00:48:43,633
in which Lincoln found himself,
that he had to listen to

921
00:48:43,633 --> 00:48:47,000
and then was willing to listen
to voices that would have

922
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:53,066
seemed outside,
that seemed radical.

923
00:48:53,066 --> 00:48:55,166
That...that's the lesson of
a Lincoln presidency

924
00:48:55,166 --> 00:48:57,900
and a lesson of
the possibilities

925
00:48:57,900 --> 00:48:59,966
of transformative change.

926
00:48:59,966 --> 00:49:04,333
You don't get transformative
change by not listening

927
00:49:04,333 --> 00:49:07,533
to the radicalness of
a Douglass.

928
00:49:07,533 --> 00:49:10,733
(suspenseful music)

929
00:49:10,733 --> 00:49:13,666
[Douglass] To all appearance,
we were on the eve

930
00:49:13,666 --> 00:49:20,266
of a restoration of the Union,
and a solid and lasting peace.

931
00:49:20,266 --> 00:49:23,133
A country redeemed and
regenerated from the foulest

932
00:49:23,133 --> 00:49:28,233
crime against human nature
that ever saw the sun.

933
00:49:28,233 --> 00:49:34,000
What a bright vision of peace,
prosperity, and happiness.

934
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:35,733
[Morris] After the Civil War,

935
00:49:35,733 --> 00:49:39,966
Frederick believed that it was
a new founding of our country.

936
00:49:39,966 --> 00:49:43,300
He had hope through the
Amendments - the 13th, 14th,

937
00:49:43,300 --> 00:49:46,166
and 15th Amendment -
that his people

938
00:49:46,166 --> 00:49:48,200
would be making progress.

939
00:49:50,600 --> 00:49:52,633
(dark introspective music)

940
00:49:52,633 --> 00:49:55,333
[Douglass] The whole history of
the progress of human liberty

941
00:49:55,333 --> 00:49:59,133
shows that all concessions yet
made to her august claims

942
00:49:59,133 --> 00:50:02,633
have been born of
earnest struggle.

943
00:50:02,633 --> 00:50:07,733
The conflict has been exciting,
agitating, all-absorbing,

944
00:50:07,733 --> 00:50:12,466
and for the time being, putting
all other tumults to silence.

945
00:50:12,466 --> 00:50:15,900
It must do this,
or it does nothing.

946
00:50:15,900 --> 00:50:19,066
If there is no struggle,
there is no progress.

947
00:50:21,500 --> 00:50:23,833
[Spires] It's hard to
pinpoint a moment in Douglass'

948
00:50:23,833 --> 00:50:28,000
life when he wasn't a danger,
especially to structures

949
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:30,333
of white supremacy and
enslavement.

950
00:50:30,333 --> 00:50:33,633
Douglass, through and through,
was a revolutionary.

951
00:50:33,633 --> 00:50:38,366
You want a handbook of how to
be successful in this world?

952
00:50:38,366 --> 00:50:42,033
You want a handbook on how to
advocate for Black rights,

953
00:50:42,033 --> 00:50:46,400
for justice, how to navigate
really thorny moral,

954
00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:50,300
spiritual, political,
legal issues?

955
00:50:50,300 --> 00:50:52,666
Read Douglass' life.

956
00:50:52,666 --> 00:50:55,700
He walks you through
how he does that.

957
00:50:55,700 --> 00:50:56,933
(dramatic music)

958
00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:02,133
[Morris] Frederick Douglass
was a Renaissance man.

959
00:51:02,133 --> 00:51:05,066
He was the first
African American nominated

960
00:51:05,066 --> 00:51:07,633
for Vice President of the
United States,

961
00:51:07,633 --> 00:51:10,300
first African American
U.S. Marshal,

962
00:51:10,300 --> 00:51:11,933
first African American
Ambassador

963
00:51:11,933 --> 00:51:14,933
and Consul General in Haiti,
and people would ask him,

964
00:51:14,933 --> 00:51:17,133
you know, "Frederick,
where did you go to school?

965
00:51:17,133 --> 00:51:19,200
Where did you get your
education?"

966
00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:24,466
And he would take a line from
his anti-slavery lecture circuit

967
00:51:24,466 --> 00:51:28,700
days and say, "My degree
is written on my back."

968
00:51:29,933 --> 00:51:32,100
[Bonner] Frederick Douglass
helps us understand

969
00:51:32,100 --> 00:51:35,966
the history of American freedom
in a really complicated way.

970
00:51:35,966 --> 00:51:38,233
The fact that he was born
a slave in this country

971
00:51:38,233 --> 00:51:41,000
that was supposedly defined
by liberty reflects

972
00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:44,000
the limitations of freedom as
a real experience.

973
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:46,833
But it also shows us the
possibilities of...of freedom

974
00:51:46,833 --> 00:51:51,366
as...as a tool to advocate
for not only liberty,

975
00:51:51,366 --> 00:51:53,233
but also justice.

976
00:51:56,900 --> 00:52:00,866
[Chatelain] Frederick Douglass
moved from being a mirror

977
00:52:00,866 --> 00:52:06,066
to hold up to the nation about
its failures to becoming a lens

978
00:52:06,066 --> 00:52:09,633
for future generations to
understand their own

979
00:52:09,633 --> 00:52:11,666
public service,
to understand their own

980
00:52:11,666 --> 00:52:15,066
commitment to justice,
to understand why bravery

981
00:52:15,066 --> 00:52:16,266
is so important.

982
00:52:16,266 --> 00:52:19,800
And so, Frederick Douglass
challenges us to become

983
00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:22,800
the fullest expression of
ourselves and our ideals.

984
00:52:25,900 --> 00:52:28,400
[Griffin] Douglass is one of
the most complicated people

985
00:52:28,400 --> 00:52:31,433
in our history,
and just when you think,

986
00:52:31,433 --> 00:52:36,333
you know him is an invitation
to come and know him more.

987
00:52:36,333 --> 00:52:39,500
And he's one of the few
Black Americans

988
00:52:39,500 --> 00:52:45,500
or Americans of any race who
left so much for us

989
00:52:45,500 --> 00:52:48,766
to read and engage so that
he's still, in some ways,

990
00:52:48,766 --> 00:52:53,566
directing us...uh... as we...as
we try to learn more about him.

991
00:52:55,366 --> 00:52:58,100
[Douglass] I have lived several
lives in one:

992
00:52:58,100 --> 00:53:03,966
the life of slavery; the life of
a fugitive from slavery;

993
00:53:03,966 --> 00:53:09,600
the life of comparative freedom;
the life of conflict and battle;

994
00:53:09,600 --> 00:53:14,066
and, the life of victory.

995
00:53:14,066 --> 00:53:17,300
I am impressed with a sense
of completeness,

996
00:53:17,300 --> 00:53:20,133
a sort of rounding up of the
arch to the point

997
00:53:20,133 --> 00:53:23,800
where the keystone may be
inserted,

998
00:53:23,800 --> 00:53:26,500
the scaffolding removed,
and the work,

999
00:53:26,500 --> 00:53:29,500
with all its perfections
or faults,

1000
00:53:29,500 --> 00:53:32,433
left to speak for itself.

1001
00:53:32,433 --> 00:53:34,433
(dramatic music)

1002
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:44,233
To order Becoming Frederick
Douglass on DVD

1003
00:53:44,233 --> 00:53:48,133
visit shopPBS.org
or a call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

1004
00:53:48,133 --> 00:53:52,433
Also available with PBS Passport
and on Amazon Prime Video.

1005
00:53:52,433 --> 00:53:54,566
♪ ♪