Being a Historian*, I was excited about all of the connotations associated with the election and inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44
th President. For me the most interesting was the linear connection to the Civil War-era. The mid-nineteenth century was a revolutionary time. It was a period of great immigration both from abroad and by people moving from farm to factory. What we call Evangelicalism was maturing in churches along with a developing social gospel. The drive for women's rights was getting steam. And, of course, there was the movement for the abolition of slavery that culminated in our Civil War.
The abolitionist movement predates the Civil War, of course, and was not limited to the United States. Thomas
Clarkson, William Wilberforce, and others in Great Britain succeeded in not only abolishing slavery in their kingdom, but in creating an international agreement against the slave trade which was enforced in great part by the Royal Navy. Here at home the
Tappan brothers became organizers and financial supporters of the abolitionist cause. Their work was extended by William Lloyd Garrison in the 1840s who published
The Liberator from Boston and founded a network of hard-core abolitionist societies (mostly) across the northern-tier states. But the culmination of the movement was led by a self-freed former slave, Frederick Douglass.
Douglass was born into slavery on an Eastern Shore Maryland plantation. As a "house slave" he was taught (illegally) to read and went on to teach other enslaved Negroes as opportunity allowed. Working for various owners and
lettors, Douglass would make his freedom when he was twenty. Borrowing papers from a free Black sailor he made his way to Philadelphia and eventually to New England where he met William Lloyd Garrison who encouraged him to speak before local anti-slavery meetings. Through his speaking tour in 1843 he became acquainted with the leaders of the fledgling women's rights movement. This would eventually lead to him selecting the booming city of Rochester, New York, where Susan B. Anthony and other activists lived, to be his home and the location where his own newspaper would be printed - the
North Star.
From the bully pulpit (to borrow a later term) of the
North Star and its later incarnations Douglass advocated for freedom for enslaved Blacks and for their full inclusion as citizens.
Rochesterians would on occasion shout down meetings of Douglass and his ilk, especially as southern states threatened secession in response to abolitionist agitation. But I am unaware of him ever being in any physical danger in this town and indeed it was nearly universally accepted in the area that the institution of slavery was unjust. Douglass worked unceasingly in Rochester, calling for freedom for the enslaved.
When the threatened secession did occur in 1861 and civil war became a reality Douglass pressed for the acceptance of Black troops to serve in the state and national forces. His aims were to not only have Blacks aid in the war against rebellion and to directly fight against slave-holders, but to prove their capacity as citizens and "earn" the rights white men enjoyed. Officially put off, there were here and there regiments that accepted them. When "colored troops" were officially accepted by Massachusetts,
Douglass's own sons enlisted, one as Sergeant-Major of the 54
th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
His desire for equality was partially realized at wars end with the passage of the
13th,
14th, and
15th Amendments to the Constitution. This also caused a bit of a falling out with his friend Susan B. Anthony, for Douglass became quiet on the demand for equal rights for men and women to gain rights for males regardless of race. Consensus has since become that rights are to be considered to be equal for all Americans, male and female, white or black or otherwise, period. But, it's taken us a long time to get there and the rights are less secure because they are not declared in the Constitution. I say that
Douglass's desire for equality for the people of his race was partially achieved because there continued to be both codified and customary discrimination against people of color by Whites until recently. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s enabled the ending of the codified racial discrimination and has led towards the cessation of racial discrimination in thought and deed as so well called for by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his
"I Have a Dream" speech.
Getting back to the theme of the day, I see the inauguration of Barack Obama as a direct result of Frederick
Douglass's agitation for equal rights beginning in the 1840s, reaching a
crescedo in the Civil War, with the struggle to hold the gains continuing until his death in 1895. His writings and speeches, his calling on politicians and people of influence, his offering of his sons for sacrifice on the battlefield, his personal risk of re-enslavement and injury or death as he spoke out - all of this work set the stage, enabling a man of color, Barack Obama, to be elected and sworn in as President of the United States of America.
Watching the inauguration I suddenly felt compelled to visit Douglass's grave and pay tribute to his work. Even though I'd lived in his chosen hometown for nearly my entire life, I'd never seen his grave site. I knew it was located in Mount Hope Cemetery, a city-managed one which is very accessible, and a quick look at the cemetery's website showed me that I had driven past his grave many, many times. So, making my way through town in light snow, I first visited a flower shop across from the cemetery to buy some few carnations to place at the monument stone and drove into the cemetery proper.
While the signs were all covered with snow, his grave was actually easy to find (especially after seeing the map, earlier). I couldn't tell if I were the first there that day - the traces of snow-covered footprints made a clear, neat path to Douglass's resting place and I could see some sort of ceremony had taken place, but whether today or as part of the previous day's remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr., was uninterpretable. But, I was there alone and it was obvious no one had been there for at least several hours. So, in solitude I laid down the flowers and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving that God had provided Frederick Douglass to goad the nation's conscience when we needed it. Before I left a man with some dogs joined me. He came directly to see the grave, also, and noted when he saw me that he wondered whether anyone would be there to visit.
At least we two did.
This is a photo of the monuments that mark Frederick
Douglass's grave. The flag was already there when I arrived. I cleared snow off the monuments and placed the red bundle of flowers that you see behind the flag. Perhaps it was coincidence that it stopped snowing and the sun came out as I came upon the grave.
*At least as defined by the
Secretary of the Interior; under the standards I can't claim to officially be an Archaeologist even though I spend more time doing that than straight history.
