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This book takes a simple yet novel approach to the "Narrative of the Life of a Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)".The authors of the essays collected here believe that students need to experience the Narrative as an aesthetic achievement as well as a socio-historical document. ... Read more

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The differences between Frederick Douglass and Martin Delany have historically been reduced to a simple binary pronouncement: assimilationist versus separatist. Now Robert S. Levine restores the relationship of these two important nineteenth-century African American writers to its original complexity. He explores their debates over issues like abolitionism, emigration, and nationalism, illuminating each man's influence on the other's political vision. He also examines Delany and Douglass's debates in relation to their own writings and to the work of Harriet Beecher Stowe.Though each saw himself as the single best representative of his race, Douglass has been accorded that role by history—while Delany, according to Levine, has suffered a fate typical of the black separatist: marginalization. In restoring Delany to his place in literary and cultural history, Levine makes possible a fuller understanding of the politics of antebellum African American leadership.Amazon.com Review
Frederick Douglass symbolizes the abolitionist movement of the19th century as only a handful of other black Americans do. Hisautobiography is required reading, and he is acknowledged as a centralfigure in American history. At the same time, Martin Delany is oftenremembered only as Douglass's opposite, and his work is largely absentfrom the canon. With Martin Delany, Frederick Douglass, and thePolitics of Representative Identity, Robert S. Levine, anassociate professor of English at the University of Maryland, attemptsto explore the complex relationship between these two men. He findsdifferences between the two, but significant correspondences aswell--each believed in the importance of Africa, in the perniciousnessof slavery, and in the need for abolition. A great value of the bookis Levine's exploration of such often overlooked sources as articlesin contemporary black newspapers, as well as letters and lectures. ... Read more

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Frederick Douglass: A Biography explores the life of the most famous black abolitionist and intellectual of the 19th century. The book covers the major developments of Douglass's life from his birth in 1818 through his time as a slave and his rise to prominence as the most famous black voice for freedom of his time.

The biography discusses Douglass's relationships with such figures as John Brown, the feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and five presidents of the United States, including Abraham Lincoln. It analyzes his role in national politics before, during, and after the Civil War, and examines the way his life is tied to significant local, regional, and national events. By focusing on the importance of spirituality in Douglass's life, this revealing work adds to our understanding of the man, the way he saw himself, and the many things he accomplished.

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Douglass, Ellison and Marley lived on racial frontiers. Their interactions with mixed audiences made them key figures in an interracial consciousness and culture, integrative ancestors who can be claimed by more than one group. An abolitionist who criticized black racialism; the author of Invisible Man, a landmark of modernity and black literature; a musician whose allegiance was to "God's side, who cause me to come from black and white." The lives of these three men illustrate how our notions of "race" have been constructed out of a repression of the interracial. ... Read more

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Provocative and passionate
Stephens has produced a passionate and provocative book about threeluminaries of African-American culture who have probably never been groupedtogether before---and certainly not so interestingly. Stephens, who holds aPhD in Communication, is doing something that more American Studiesscholars should emulate: he's making comparisons across politicalboundaries, and he's challenging some prevailing orthodoxies about how wethink about race in the US. Very much worth reading and arguing about. ... Read more

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Power of the Spoken Word
Colaiaco's Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July will undoubtedly attract many readers.Its elegant prose and masterful interweaving of Douglass' powerful July 4th oration (1852) with the events that brought him to the forefront in the fight against slavery make this book a must read for anyone interested in understanding the issues that led to the tragic Civil War.
Colaiaco demonstrates Douglass' consummate rhetorical ability and illuminates the careful thought he gave to arrive at an anti-slavery interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. This book goes beyond Douglass' July 4th oration to illuminate other important speeches of Douglass, including his attack upon the infamous Dred Scott decision (1857) as well as his brilliant 1860 speech on the Constitution as an abolition document.
Having read this book, I can better understand how Douglass compelled America to confront the shameful contradiction of slavery in a nation whose founding documents-- the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution-- professed liberty, justice, and equal rights for all.
Colaiaco's writing talent lies in his ability to make difficult matters accessible even to those who are not American history scholars.Readers will comprehend the power of the spoken word to affect a nation.This book, more than any other I have read, demonstrates the prominence of Frederick Douglass' oratory in arousing the conscience of many against slavery in the years prior to the Civil War.This is the only book I know that analyzes Douglass' July 4th speech, placing it among the greatest speeches in American history.
Kudos to James Colaiaco for writing an excellent book on an important historical period that combines elegant prose and incisive analysis.This book deserves a place among the celebrated works on American history.

Frederick Douglass Challenges America
James Colaiaco, also author of an important book on Martin Luther King, Jr. has now written an outstanding study of Frederick Douglass.

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass, the former slave and abolitionist, delivered an extraordinary speech in Rochester, N.Y., entitled "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Douglass' July 4th oration is the greatest abolition speech of the 19th century. With rhetorical brilliance, Douglass compelled the nation to confront what has been called the "American dilemma," the contradiction between slavery and the ideals of liberty and equal rights proclaimed by the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution. This contradiction between ideals and practice tore the nation apart, leading to the Civil War.

James Colaiaco does a masterful job in weaving together a comprehensive analysis of Douglass' speech and important historical context. This book brings to life a brilliant cast of characters, including William Lloyd Garrison, Abraham Lincoln, John C. Calhoun, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sojourner Truth, and John Brown. Colaiaco's penetrating analysis shows that while Douglass praised America for its liberal ideals, he devoted most of his thirty-page speech to attacking the nation for continuing to allow more than three million black people to live in slavery.

Not only does Colaiaco provide a comprehensive and insightful analysis of Douglass' speech, he also demonstrates how Douglass continued to pursue its major themes in many speeches delivered prior to the Civil War. Among the important speeches the book analyzes is Douglass' condemnation of the 1857 infamous Dred Scott decision, in which the Supreme Court declared that, according to the Constitution, black people were not citizens and did not possess any rights which white people were required to respect. Colaiaco shows how the Dred Scott decision was a stunning defeat for the abolition movement, and aroused a chorus of indignation throughout the North. Abraham expressed the hope that it would be overturned as soon as possible.

Frederick Douglass realized that the Dred Scott decision undermined the message of his 1852 July 4th oration, the contradiction between slavery and America's founding documents. As the nation continued to plummet towards civil war, Douglass delivered a brilliant address in Glasgow, Scotland in 1860. Developing ideas that were rooted in his 1852 July 4th oration, and pursued in many other previous speeches, Douglass challenged the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing the controversial position that, despite certain compromises with "slavery" made by the framers in 1787, the Constitution, when read through the ethical lens of its own Preamble, in addition to the Declaration of Independence, is a great abolition document.

Needless to say, the nation failed to heed Douglass' call to abolish slavery. What could not be resolved by rational discourse, had be be resolved by arms. The Civil War, in which some 620,000 Union and Confederate soldiers lost their lives, was a tragedy that Douglass predicted but desperately tried to convince the nation to avert.

This book is ideal for anyone interested in learning how Frederick Douglass, a true American hero, used the power of oratory to defend human rights.

Frederick Douglass and the Promise of America
I read this book by James Colaiaco, a Master Teacher of Great Books at New York University, to help me think about the United States's upcoming Independence Day holiday of July 4, 2006.The book did both less than that and more.

Colaiaco's"Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July Oration" has as its named subject a speech that Douglass (1818 -- 1895) gave in Rochester, New York on July 5, 1852, generally known as "What, to the American Slave, is your 4th of July?"In his speech, Douglass paid tribute to the vision and courage of America's founders in their fight for freedom and for independence from Britian.But equally importantly, he excoriated the America of his day for its toleration of the institution of slavery.Using his great oratorical powers, Douglass lashed out at the hypocrisy that would proclaim that "all men are created equal" with self-evident rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" while enslaving 4,000,000 African Americans.Yet Douglass found a reason for hope as he was convinced that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution offered the path to eliminate slavery.

Colaiaco's book is similar in format to books published in recent years analyzing the speeches of Abraham Lincoln in detail.There have been notable books, for example, devoted to Lincoln's Cooper Union Address, the Second Inaugural Address, and, of course, the Gettysburg Address.Douglass was a grand and learned speaker who had escaped from slavery as a young man and who, as was Lincoln, was largely self-taught.His speeches, together with his three autobiographies, richly reward reading.

Although Colaiaco gives a good account of Douglass's celebrated Fourth of July oration, the book is rather broader in scope than that single speech.It discusses Douglass's development as a thinker beginning the time he spent in slavery and concluding, in general, with the end of the Civil War, even though Douglass lived and wrote for an additional 30 years. Most of the book discusses American Constitutional interpretation and Douglass's changing views of the American Constitution.Thus, Colaiaco points out that, upon escaping slavery, Douglass originally was a follower of the abolititonist William Garrison who wanted nothing to do with the American Constitution because he believed it sanctioned slavery.(Ironically, this understanding of the Constitution was shared by the Southern slaveholders.)Gradually, Douglass became convinced that the Declaration and Constitution themselves were powerful weapons against slavery and that the words of the Constitution could be read to support its abolition. (Abraham Lincoln did not go so far.He issued his Emancipation Proclamation under grounds of military necessary and was troubled about whether it would be sustainable in peace time.The result was the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.)Douglass thus broke with Garrison and fought for a political end to slavery within the contours of the American political system and its governing documents.This was a bold and creative step to take. Douglass's way of reading a fundamental legal text remains with us, and controversial, today.

By the time he delivered his Fourth of July oration, Douglass had already broken with Garrison. Colaiaco takes the reader through the speech and points out how Douglass believed change could be attained within American constitutionalism.But most of the book uses the July 4 speech as a springboard for consideration of questions of Constitutional interpretation, the reasons for Douglass's change in his view of the Constitution, the Dred Scott decision, Douglass's relationship with John Brown, and the coming of the Civil War.Colaiaco also discusses several additional speeches of Douglass, including a speech he gave in Glasgow, Scotland in March 1860, "The Constitution of the United States: is it pro-slavery or anti-slavery" and a speech he gave in Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C.on April 14, 1876, "Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln". The book concludes with an analysis of Douglass's reading of the Constitution, including these portions which appear to sanction slavery where it existed without actually using the word.

I found the discussion of constitutional interpretation insightful and stimulating, but it took my attention away from Douglass's Fourth of July speech.The speech deserves detailed treatment in a book, but Colaiaco's book, while leading the reader to think that the speech is its main focus, does something good, but a little different.

On a related note, I was also disappointed that the book does not include the rather lengthy text of Douglass's Fourth of July oration. (Colaiaco's text is only about 200 pages long.)Readers interested enough to pursue a treatment of the speech ought to be given the text so that they can read it for themselves as they study the analysis. Douglass prepared an edited, abriged version of the speech and included it in his second autobiography, which is available from the Library of America series.The speech, together with many of Douglass's other works, is also available in Philip Foner's one-volume edition of "Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings" in the Library of Black America series.Those interested in reading Douglass for themselves, particularly the Fourth of July oration, would do well to turn to one of these sources as they read Colaiaco's fine study.

Robin Friedman

A reminder of both America's hopes and failures
Americans, specifically the privileged citizens of the U.S., have a wonderful capacity for naive self-congratulation--a collective fantasy that selectively recalls or imagines a burnished history filled with the noblest ideals of democracy, freedom, and equality in response to injustices received, while glossing over the many injustices given.Frederick Douglass understood this all too well in his excoriating Fourth of July speech "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" given in 1852.To Douglass, who opened his speech with due praise for the founders of the nation, the promise of the "fathers of the republic" made the then current enslavement of fellow humans all the more appalling, sad, and shameful:

"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour."

Professor Colaiaco uses the text of this speech and others by Douglass to explain the oratory, ideas, and history behind the rhetoric.Rather than follow a strict historical narrative, Colaiaco juxtaposes the ideals enshrined by the nation's founders with the rhetoric of Douglass's speeches, fleshing out Douglass's thoughts with biographical, historical, and intellectual context.The book actively relives the struggle to reconcile the lofty ideals of America's founding with the practical realities that both undermined and served those same ideals.That we continue these arguments to this day testifies to both the continuation of injustices and the adaptability of our system of government in addressing them. ... Read more

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In this powerful volume, 15 leading American philosophers examine and critically reassess Douglass's significance for contemporary social and political thought.

Philosophically, Douglass's work sought to establish better ways of thinking, especially in the light of his convictions about our humanity and democratic legitimacy - convictions that were culturally and historically shaped by his experience of, and struggle against, the institution of American slavery.

Contributors include Bernard R. Boxill, Angela Y. Davis, Lewis R. Gordon, Leonard Harris, Tommy L. Lott, Howard McGary, and John P. Pittman. ... Read more

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Originally published in 1896.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

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This is an electronic edition of the complete book complemented by author biography. This book features the table of contents linked to every volume, book and chapter. The book was designed for optimal navigation on the Kindle, PDA, Smartphone, and other electronic readers. It is formatted to display on all electronic devices including the Kindle, Smartphones and other Mobile Devices with a small display.

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African-American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. The genre traces its origins to the works of such late 18th century writers as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano, reaching early high points with slave narratives and the Harlem Renaissance, and continuing today with authors such as Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou and Walter Mosley being ranked among the top writers in the United States. Among the themes and issues explored in African American literature are the role of African Americans within the larger American society, African-American culture, racism, slavery, and equality. African American writing has also tended to incorporate within itself oral forms such as spirituals, sermons, gospel music, blues and rap. As African Americans' place in American society has changed over the centuries, so, too, have the foci of African American literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a wonderful book
This book really kept me interested. It made me think about slavery and how wrong it was.I really enjoyed finding out about Frederick Douglass and how he learned to read.This is a wonderful book.The illustrationsare just as wonderful.I would recommend this book to all educators to usein their classroom. ... Read more

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This Halcyon Classics eBook contains four works by ex-slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, including his autobiographical 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.'Includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.


Contents:

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
My Bondage and My Freedom
My Escape From Slavery
Reconstruction
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Customer Reviews (2)

Exciting new look at Douglass
Reginald Davis' new book offers an exciting new look at Frederick Douglass, reviving the spirit of this liberation thinker, whose thought appears more relevant now than ever.

Davis offers convincing evidence that Douglass should be viewed as a precursor to liberation theology.Furthermore, Davis explicates, through his use of Douglass' life and thought, the process whereby oppression is sustained, as the oppressed take on the ideas of the oppressor, particularly in the area of religion.Liberation must begin with the oppressed liberating their own minds from the ideas of their rulers.In Douglass' case, this entailed a decision to reject the prevailing interpretation of Christianity of his time and reinterpret theology based on a foundational committment to the liberation of the oppressed.Like a true liberation theologian, Douglass rejects any interpretation of faith--declares his willingness to reject even the Bible if necessary--that justifies oppression.Douglass also stirred the masses into action by rejecting a "pie in the sky" or "let go and let God" mentality; people must struggle for liberation and not wait for God to solve their problems for them.Nevertheless, Douglass maintained a deep faith in Christianity and the Christian call to "set the captives free."

A few quick notes:

--I like the nice use of Paulo Freire made by Davis.

--The theology shows a real depth of analysis.

--Davis does a good job of showing how Douglass' thought remains relevant.(Often portrayed in the history textbooks as a bland free-slave abolitionist statesman, Douglass was a revolutionary, concerned not only about slavery but classism, racism, and sexism, who urged the youth of his day to "Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!")

A fun read...an important read...deep enough for theologians and philosophers to enjoy...non-technical enough for the layman to enjoy too.

Powerful thinking
Liberation theology is one of the major theological schools of the twentieth century.However, such theological developments do not occur in a vacuum, and if such theological developments are true to the gospel from which they spring, one will be able to look back into the past and see evidence of such thinking and acting among people of the past.Such is the case with Reginald Davis' treatment of the figure Frederick Douglass, a powerful embodiment of much of what came to be part of liberation theology in century after his death.

As Davis states in the preface, 'We label Douglass a liberation thinker not because he constructed a systemic theology, but because in his speeches, writings and actions he hit upon parallel patterns of thought of liberation theology.Moreover, Douglass lived his theology.His life was a prime example of what the oppressed can do to gain and secure freedom.'Douglass rose from slavery and obscurity to being both hailed and hated as a constant agitator for freedom.His agitation, however, was no simple act of civil disobedience, nor was it a violent fight against what was admittedly a violent form of oppression.Rather, his was a carefully considered and philosophically (and theologically) sound programme of argument and action in crying out for emancipation.

Douglass drew much of his inspiration from the spirit of the American Revolution.The principles of the Declaration of Independence and the overall spirit of the Constitution called for a society in which all were free and equal under the law, yet in practice there were varying levels of oppression (Douglass did not neglect the fact that women were also not treated as equal), the worst of which was slavery.

Douglass began thinking theologically from an early age, when he could not reconcile the idea of a just God in command of all things with the idea that some classes of people were predestined by God to be in subordinate and slave roles.Douglass also learned early that education and freedom were related (because of the disapproval of his master Thomas Auld at Douglass' growing literacy), and determined to gain this education on his own.Falling upon hard times with a cruel master, Douglass began to formulate the idea that his liberation could not be left to chance or miracle, but rather, it was something that he, as an oppressed person, must take for himself.This would be a very significant insight, for it is part of this insight that forms the foundation of liberation theology; Davis quotes Paulo Freire to this point as well.

When Douglass escaped to the North, it was not smooth sailing from there.Douglass encountered racism in the North, even among abolitionists, who decried the institution of slavery but still discounted equality of all human beings.This would form another element of Douglass' thinking that is parallel to the ideas of liberation theology - the recognition of the intrinsic worth of all human beings.In this setting, Douglass also learned the very human limitations of the institutional church, as often caught up in a preservation of the status quo as it is in proclaiming the gospel - like many liberation theologians and other prophetic voices, he found working within the framework of the institutional church problematic.

Douglass had criticism for the mainline denominations of the time, who seemed to have their institutional needs wrapped up in the preservation of the system, as well as criticism for those free-church and evangelical types who proclaimed a more eschatological brand of freedom, one that comes in heaven or the millennium or some such teaching.'Douglass asserted that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a postponement of justice and the release of the captives for an eschatological salvation.The gospel of Jesus Christ speaks of salvation in terms of a present reality.'This again links to liberation theology, that sees liberation and justice in this world as a necessary task, not one to be ignored in favour of a more 'spiritual' or theoretical goal.

Davis devotes a chapter each to 'Douglass and the Making of Liberation Theology', as well as 'Interpretation of Douglass as a Liberation Thinker.'Davis draws in a number of the major theological developments from the late nineteenth century through the twentieth century in looking at different ways in which theology has grown, with a particular emphasis on the varying strands of liberation theology and the kinds of interpretative paradigms they have instituted.This is a somewhat controversial stand, given that some theologians distrust using the term 'theology' to Douglass - his criticism and mistrust of Christianity has sometimes been interpreted as being anti-theological or anti-religious in total.Davis argues that there is a more subtle issue at work - given the experience that Douglass had at the hands of those who either espoused or justified their actions in the name of religion (and Christianity in particular), it is no surprise the Douglass would come to mistrust the situation.

There are elements of Douglass' life that I would have liked to have seen expanded upon, but every history is necessarily selective, and David has done a good job at sticking close to his original thesis while providing a reasonably full account of the context and life of Douglass himself, and the theological situation after Douglass that led into liberation theology.

This is a good work on a powerful figure.


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Containing An Account Of His Life; His Eminent Public Services; His Brilliant Career As Orator; Selections From His Speeches And Writings. ... Read more

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Traces a lineage of pro-feminist black men to two early radical proponents of female equality. ... Read more

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Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, 1818-1895) was an African- American, born into slavery, who became an editor, orator, author, publisher, statesman and reformer. Douglass was among the most prominent African-Americans of his time, and one of the most influential lecturers and authors in American history. His most well-known work is his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845). Critics frequently attacked the book as inauthentic, not believing that a black man could have produced so eloquent a piece of literature. It was an immediate bestseller. He went on to write a second autobiography; My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), his most accomplished account of his life on literary and philosophical terms. ... Read more