FredrickDouglass identified “three sets of excuses,” for the terrorizing and murder of
blacks. Prior to the Civil War: “insurrection,” during reconstruction: “negro
supremacy,” and afterward: “rape.” From the late 1830s to the early 1890s he
campaigned (unsuccessfully) for black civil rights. Throughout this long (850
page) biography, David W Blight reflected on the similarities between the 19th
and 21st century.
Winner of
2019 Pulitzer Prize in History
I had
imagined the Civil War had been between the slaveowners in the South and the
abolitionists in the North. Fredrick Douglass, and the author, made a
convincing case that the culture of white supremacy was endemic throughout the
country. Even the abolitionists believed in a fundamental white supremacy. For
this reason, following the Civil War, the South quickly recovered its position
of power, and the negros never rose above theirs of servitude.
Douglass
felt the South won the war. After the Civil War amendments (13, 14, 15)
overturned Dred Scott (1857), the Supreme Court again came down on the side of states’
rights when employed against blacks. Consider: US vs Cruikshank (1876). “The
[Supreme] Court overruled the conviction of Louisiana whites who attacked a
political meeting of blacks… The justices ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment
did not give the federal government power to uphold convictions against whites.”
Again in 1883, US vs Stanley, the Supreme Court upheld the right for
individuals to discriminate against blacks. Compare this to the contemporary
discussion of doctors and bakers discriminating against women and gays.
Douglass
ended his life campaigning against lynchings. Compare this to the contemporary
Black Lives Matter movement.
Before the
Civil War Fredrick Douglass lectured against slaveholders in the South, but
also against the churches in the North that might be against slavery but were
also supporters of white supremacy. During the war, he reiterated this message: “We
shall be fighting a double battle against slavery at the South and against
prejudice and prescription at the North.”
A story of a
great man and the apparently persistent racism of the United States. One of
Fredrick Douglass’s unwelcome messages was that racism existed throughout the
country and the culture. This book is more enlightening than optimistic.
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