Slave and Citizen: The Life of Frederick

¶ … Slave and Citizen: The Life of Frederick Douglass by Nathan Irvin Huggins. Specifically, it will answer some specific questions about the book concerning rights, slavery, and major reform movements of the time. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and natural orator, was a large part of the abolitionist movement before and during the Civil War. He did not single-handedly assure the ultimate freedom of black slaves in the United States, but his compelling voice and writings helped millions of Americans understand the plight of the black man, and ultimately change it for the better. However, Douglass did not stop at abolitionism. He was a voice for temperance, free land for the people, and especially women's rights. He was a crusader who believed in his causes, and had the skill to bring them quite vividly to the people. Frederick Douglass was a citizen heavily involved in his country and his beliefs -- someone any reform movement would be happy to happy, even desperate to have as a supporter, and his life made a difference in the lives of many others.

It seems that reform movements have always faced many of the same problems, both historically and in more modern times. First, the groups had to get their message to the public, and Frederick Douglass helped the abolitionist movement greatly because his message was so powerful and compelling. Second, they had to overcome apathy and indifference in the people who were listening, and the people who did not bother to listen. The groups also had to combat hostility, misunderstanding, and even violence. Author Huggins notes, "[I]n states like Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois hostility and violent language sometimes erupted into mob violence" (Huggins 18). As with most reform movements, their message did not appeal to everyone, and clearly offended some, and so their main task was to appeal to the greatest number of people, thereby developing a big enough following that they could eventually sway public opinion and gain support for legislative reform. As Douglass continued to work for black freedom, he encountered other areas where reform was needed, and worked tirelessly for them, too. He worked for women's rights because he felt that in many ways, women in America suffered nearly as much as slaves did -- they were treated as second-class citizens, and enjoyed few of the rights men enjoyed. In addition, as he encountered prejudice and "Jim Crow" attitudes that segregated blacks across the country, he began to work not only for freedom, but also for civil rights for blacks against the day when they won their freedom.

Douglass sought to gain public support by telling his personal story about his life as a slave, but as he gained speaking experience, he also discussed other problems in America, such as temperance and women's rights. He spoke out eloquently, but he also spoke out against those he felt were hindering the cause of abolitionists, and so he was often surrounded in controversy. For example, he came under criticism because friends purchased his freedom, so he was not longer under the threat of capture and return to bondage. However, some abolitionists felt that no man had the right to hold people as property, and so no man had the right to sell another man, and Douglass' purchase violated the very backbone of what they believed in (Huggins 34). He also started his own newspaper to bring the abolitionist word to the people, and traveled all over the country speaking to groups about slavery and the black man's plight. He also turned from peaceful means of gaining freedom, and began to increasingly support violence as a means to gain freedom, which made him all the more dangerous in the eyes of those people who opposed him. After the Civil War began, he championed the right of northern blacks to fight in the war. Huggins notes, "But he had believed that their valor, despite these abuses, would triumph over both slavery in the South and prejudice in the North" (Huggins 89). Black soldiers suffered some horrible atrocities, and they were never treated equally with their white counterparts, a fact which troubled Douglass throughout the war.

Well, to the extent that slavery eventually was abolished, and it was such a volatile issue in the forming of the Civil War, Douglass was quite successful, but of course, the course of the nation does not rely on one man -- it cannot. However, women did not gain their rights as a result of Douglass' work, and temperance did not come about until long after he died, when Prohibition was enacted in 1920. Therefore, Douglass fought and won for one cause, but lost many other causes. Despite that, he was an influential man who can be credited with a key role in ending slavery. He continued to work tirelessly for black rights, including voting and land holding, and he investigated the treatment and social conditions of blacks in other areas, always working to improve the black man's experience in America. He also became involved in government, and served on a team looking into annexing Santo Domingo for President Grant, and other appointments in government from later presidents. Black freedom did not erase the hatred and prejudice that held much of the country, and Douglass never gave up working to further the rights of the groups he knew needed them most.