Frederick Douglass: Freedom's Voice 1818-1845 - Book Report/Review Example

? Frederick Douglass: Freedom's Voice, 1818-1845 The book, Frederick Douglass: Freedom's Voice, 1818-1845, written by Gregory Lampe details chronicles of Fredrick Douglass’ career in oral presentation, his life as an abolitionist lecturer, and his activities and development as a reformer and public speaker. Lampe presents new information about the life of the renowned orator and overturns the conventional wisdom held as the facts about Douglass’s life. The reader is to new information regarding the orator’s life as a slave and fugitive, enhancing a deeper understanding of the emergence and development of the orator as a crucial voice on abolition of slavery in the mid-nineteenth century. Lampe highlights a new approach to the traditionally held conception of Douglass’s preparation for his oratory career as an advocate for salve abolition. Lampe illuminates Douglass as an independent thinker in the abolitionist movement. He also corrects some of the old beliefs held by Douglass’s scholars and students on his career and abolitionist activities. Lampe’s presents thought-provoking facts about the orator’s early life to his lecture career from 1818 to 1845. Lampe includes additional material and correction on the previous published works on the renowned orator. He includes two new speeches by Douglass, which do not exist in any previous publications. However, the author omits recognition of current scholars who share the same ideas as Douglass, like William McFeely. Nevertheless, his accounts of the daily abolitionist activities of the orator are consistent and valuable as among the most contributing voices of the fight against slavery in the nineteenth century. Lampe takes the reader back to the beginning of the nineteenth century when Frederick Douglass was born. With the name Frederick Bailey, the orator was born in Talbot County, Maryland. His mother, Harriet Bailey, was a slave. Lampe considers his father as his master, Captain Anthony. The book takes us through the early life of a black slave in the early 1800s, where suffering and extreme barbarity by slave owners and slaveholders was daily routine in the Southern Plantations1. Lampe estimates that around 1826, Douglass went to stay in Baltimore with captain’s Thomas brother, Hugh Auld, and his wife Sophia. This was a chance for him to experience the city. Lampe considers it the initial turning point of his life. Lampe begins his criticism of earlier publications by disregarding the traditionally held belief that Douglass was not prepared to become an orator and full-time lecturer on abolition in Massachusetts. Contrary to the image of painted by past scholars, Lampe regards his emergence as an abolitionist from a critical viewpoint through his training. Lampe traces through Douglass’ early life as a slave in Maryland revealing important development factor that may have contributed to his abolitionist campaigns. In the first years of the ‘freedom’, Lampe illustrates Douglass learning the oral tradition of slavery through secular stories, slave songs, religious preaching, and spiritual activities. The book follows his life in Baltimore where he encounters the Columbian Orator, which influenced him to learn public oratory art. Baltimore was a literary class for Douglass. He learnt how to read and write, and at the age of twelve years, part of the Columbian Orator that was tackled the issue of dialogue between a master and slave was his most interesting material. Despite the learning the importance of dialogue, the article encouraged his desire for freedom. Unfortunately, Douglass went back to his old master in Talbot County. His master, Captain Thomas, disapproved of him, as Douglas did not respect him. As a result, he sent him to work for one of the harsh employee Edward Convey. Douglass was subject to harsh treated from his new master. Lampe says that Douglass fought Mr. Covey for two hours, after which he was never a subject to the harsh treatment again. This was another turning point for Douglass. After approximately a year with Convey, he became a slave for Freeland who was considerate to the slaves. The book goes ahead to give the account of Douglass’s unsuccessful attempt to escape. Douglass went back to Baltimore to live with his brother. While there, he learnt how to caulk and made some money for the Captain. He became involves with some free black brothers under the group East Baltimore Improvement Society. In the course of his activities in church participation, he met his wife Anna Murray. Lampe portrays Anna Murray as a black independent woman who inspired Douglass. Her motivation bore fruits in September 1838 when Douglass escaped to New York for freedom by train. Bedford was a critical development point for Douglass’s career as a public speaker. From his caulk skills, to the involvement with the East Baltimore Improvement Society, and church involvement, each challenge he encountered added to the skills of facing a crowd and speaking on abolitionism2. His wife was also a source of motivation considering that she was a black independent woman. He combined the oral tradition culture of slavery with the new lessons of public oratory skills to strengthen his speech. Lampe highlights Douglass religion conversion in Maryland as another contributing factor to his development as a public orator. His conversion to Christianity was a source of morale. Christianity gave him a chance to observe white and black preachers, a rich practical experience that proved important latter in his life. The author follows the fugitive life of the orator to Bedford where he escaped to avoid slavery. Lampe view the first three years after Douglass’ flee to Bedford as the most critical that provided him with the oratory experiences. His understanding of rhetoric and pre-training as an abolitionist contributed to his inception to the African Methodist Zion Church as a leader. He gained a license for preaching, giving him a formal access to public speaking training. At the same time, he became an active member of the abolitionist movement in Bedford. His involvement with the abolitionist movements enabled interaction with other abolitionists and religious leaders. Lampe asserts that this was his source of confidence and skills. He disregards the past belief that the famous abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison as a mentor to Douglass. Despite having a newspaper that advocated for abolition of slavery, Garrison did not entirely introduce Douglass to the field of abolitionism. He seems to criticize Garrison’s contribution to Douglass’ career, which is reasonable. However, Garrison must have some credit in Douglass development as Garrison’s newspaper, the Liberator, was among the favorite reading of Douglass. Lampe keen examination of the orator’s activities and experiences from his emergence in Nantucket around 1841 to the time of his departure to England reveal that Douglass was not relying heavily on Garrison on issues pertaining to abolitionist activities. The author further displays the outspoken and independence characters of Douglass, which resulted to conflicts with the white abolitionists at times. In his efforts to show the highlight Douglass’s independent development and thinking, Lampe dedicates a considerable insight into the first months of the orator’s abolition tour. The book says that within several weeks after joining the abolition movement, Douglass was talking about his slave life in the North from a personal experience. He also tackled proslavery preaching and racial prejudice in the North from experience. Lampe strives to show that Douglass was independent in his thinking and development from the experiences of being a slave in the North. Ultimately, Lampe secures Douglass’s position in the abolitionist movement as an independent activist, with Garrison’s approaches to anti-slavery policies crawling later in his career development. Nevertheless, Douglass did not always concur with Garrison on issues pertaining to abolition, as some of the arguments by Garrison were subject to Douglass criticism. After establishing himself as a renowned abolitionist and lecturer in Bedford, Massachusetts, the orator was among the most sought after public speakers against slavery in the region, and abroad. The book indicates that around this period is when he wrote his narrative, published in 1845. The story about his life became a best seller instantly. His fame grew wide and large. Later, he took journalistic responsibilities in the anti-slavery movement. Majority of Lampe’s work is dedicated to improving facts on past publications about Douglass and his abolitionist activities. His book seems to imply that Douglass’s involvement in the anti-slavery movement and his abolitionist activities have not exhaustively undergone examination and research. Lampe is quick to use Douglass’s speech as a source of his text, recordings of reactions to his speeches, publications on the abolitionist meetings and rallies as evidence to his revisionary claims. These tools enable the reader to understand what Lampe perceives of Douglass’s contribution to the anti-slavery movements and the consequent abolition. His rhetoric method of communicating anti-slavery messages takes center stage in Lampe’s narrative. The book also highlights the danger that surrounded the abolitionism lectures and rallies3. He highlights the conflicts that arose among the factions of abolitionist and within the Garrison’s activists. Lampe raises a number of new findings omitted in other publications, and includes two new speeches that he has discovered. He presents his accurate accounts of Douglass’s abolitionist activities and the new speeches in form of appendices in the book. His meticulous research and correction to the existing facts about the orator adds value to this book. Despite the few new findings, Lampe provides Douglass’s students, scholars and enthusiasts with a valuable account and illumination to the orator’s life that had remained unearthed. The book is generally strong, considering the presentation of new facts by the author. Lampe explores all the past information about Douglass that remained un-researched in the past publication. The two new speeches seem legitimate, as they confer with Douglass beliefs in anti-slavery policies. Another reason for trusting the author’s new sources is the accuracy of citation in the recorded speeches and meetings. Personally, I believe the author came out persuasively, presenting facts to back up his revisions on the orator’s life. This book contains relatively more detailed explanations compared with the past publications. Read More