Frederick Douglass

Prophet of Freedom

De: David W. Blight

Narrado por: Prentice Onayemi

Pulitzer Prize, History, 2019

The definitive, dramatic biography of the most important African American of the 19th 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 traveled 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 US 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’ newspapers. Blight tells the fascinating story of Douglass’ 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.

©2018 David W. Blight (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

Don’t give up at chapter 1

Oh my word, what a pompous introduction that is Chapter 1. Even as he says Douglas’ viewpoints are not aligned with either party or political viewpoint alone, when he references GOP admiration of Douglas, he essentially chuckles and calls them stupid, and that those who are better schooled and learned obviously don’t agree with them.

After chapter 1 the book shifts to narrative and loses a good deal of its pomposity and is quite enjoyable.

A Life Well Lived...A Story for the Ages

As a reasonably well informed reader of history and admirer of Frederick Douglass, I found this book immensely informative and enjoyable. The author, David W. Blight, is eloquent and measured in presenting the story. The narrator, Prentice Onayemi, is smooth and insightful in his reading. I knew about Frederick Douglass for many years but had never really comprehended the true nature of his contribution to the abolition of slavery. Nor was I aware of his vast popularity as an orator, a real live superstar of the 19th century, perhaps the best known man in the country. While I always strove to get behind the mainstream narrative of the civil war, which I understood to be tainted with racism from decades of Jim Crow laws and tolerance for injustice against black people, I never before read such a comprehensive account of the anti-slavery movement that Douglass spear headed. I found it remarkable that the militant voice of an escaped slave achieved great popularity in a vastly racist society. I marveled at his courage in confronting and even fist fighting hostile mobs all over the country during the pre war years. Then, once the war was over and slavery abolished, I was fascinated by the limbo Douglass endured trying to find a new purpose once his fight against slavery was victorious. It was painful to follow his life through the years when Jim Crow arose in the South and his Republican Party lost its way. Douglass fell into a limbo we see running throughout the 20th century. I experienced it directly in the mid 1960s when civil rights militancy gave way to pro war support for the war in Vietnam, when the loud cries for justice were drowned out by greed and the quest for empire. On the personal side, I found the story of Douglass' family, his wife Anna, mother of his five children, and then his second wife Helen, to be a compelling story of transformation of life that could only have happened once slavery was abolished. For those of us who understand that the civil war was all about slavery and slavery alone, this book will provide a deep glimpse into a century of history that gave birth to the modern world we all live in today.

informative but not strictly biographical

was LONG... author injects a LOT of opinion, about Douglass and others. Narrator was at times a bit annoying.

Great Biography of A Great Man

An epic telling of an epic life. Masterful weaving of facts with historical context. Filling in gaps of internal psychology with plausible speculation. Beautiful writing that moved me to tears more than once.

Compelling but very detailed

Very very long book, comprising the 3 Douglass autobiographies and just about every shred of historical data relevant to his life...every letter to and from him, every speech he gave, every reference to him in all speeches and journalism here and abroad. It often feels like too much detail , but it does give a great historical sweep of the horrific racial crimes that have taken place alongside our“One nation with freedom and justice for all” mythology. I don’t think I could have made it through a print version, but the reader’s mellifluous voice kept me going. I do feel more deeply informed and more saddened about humanity’s struggle with otherness having listened to this admittedly impressive, in-depth study of the span of Douglass’s life and the historical, social and political times he lived through.