Frederick Douglass

We sometimes believe that racism only occurs in America. Last week, I read an interesting story on the BBC demonstrating that racism was alive and well. In Lima, Peru.

The Cafe del Mar restaurant was closed, temporarily for 60 days, and fined about US $70,000. The reason? There were complaints from several customers, who happened to have darker skin, that they were denied entry into the restaurant. Ironically, it was only in 2004 that the Peruvian government legislated laws to combat discrimination.

“For many human rights campaigners the closure is an important step in combating Peru’s racial and economic discrimination.

Wilfredo Ardito is one of them: ‘This is a symbolic sanction. It is the first time happily that this practice in this terrible act of racial selection of the customer has been closed and we consider that this is the first step. Racism is something permanent in our society but it’s terrible that even a place open to the public is practicing this kind of situation,’ he said.” (1)

After he wrote, “The Narrative,” Frederick Douglass spent two years in Great Britain. He had an interesting experience during his voyage.

“I became myself painfully alive to the liability which surrounded me, and which might at any moment scatter all my proud hopes and return me to a doom worse than death. It was thus I was led to seek a refuge in monarchical England from the dangers of republican slavery. A rude, uncultivated fugitive slave, I was driven to that country to which American young gentlemen go to increase their stock of knowledge, to seek pleasure, and to have their rough democratic manners softened by contact with English aristocratic refinement.

The insult was keenly felt by my white friends, but to me such insults were so frequent and expected that it was of no great consequence whether I went in the cabin or in the steerage. Moreover, I felt that if I could not go in the first cabin, first cabin passengers could come in the second cabin, and in this thought I was not mistaken, as I soon found myself an object of more general interest than I wished to be, and, so far from being degraded by being placed in the second cabin, that part of the ship became the scene of as much pleasure and refinement as the cabin itself. The Hutchinson family from New Hampshire–the sweet singers of anti-slavery and the “good time coming”–were fellow-passengers, and often came to my rude forecastle-deck and sang their sweetest songs, making the place eloquent with music and alive with spirited conversation. They not only visited me, but invited me to visit them, and in two or three days after leaving Boston one part of the ship was about as free to me as another. My visits there, however, were but seldom. I preferred to live within my privileges and keep upon my own premises. This course was quite as much in accord with good policy as with my own feelings. The effect was that with the majority of the passengers all color distinctions were flung to the winds, and I found myself treated with every mark of respect from the beginning to the end of the voyage, except in one single instance, and in that I came near being mobbed for complying with an invitation given me by the passengers and the captain of the Cambria to deliver a lecture on slavery.

There were several young men, passengers from Georgia and New Orleans, and they were pleased to regard my lecture as an insult offered to them, and swore I should not speak. They went so far as to threaten to throw me overboard, and but for the firmness of Captain Judkins they would probably, under the inspiration of slavery and brandy, have attempted to put their threats into execution. I have no space to describe this scene, although its tragic and comic features are well worth describing. An end was put to the mélee by the captain’s call to the ship’s company to put the salt-water mobocrats in irons, at which determined order the gentlemen of the lash scampered, and for the remainder of the voyage conducted themselves very decorously.

This incident of the voyage brought me within two days after landing at Liverpool before the British public. The gentlemen so promptly withheld in their attempted violence toward me flew to the press to justify their conduct and to denounce me as a worthless and insolent negro. This course was even less wise than the conduct it was intended to sustain, for, besides awakening something like a national interest in me, and securing me an audience, it brought out counter statements and threw upon themselves the blame which they had sought to fasten upon me and upon the gallant captain of the ship.”

Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: Chapter VI, Impressions Abroad.

Reference

(1) “Racist” Peru Restaurant Closed, BBC Online, 08 July 2007.

A friend, Ed Dellacroce, sent me a very interesting video link about an extraordinary American. Her name is Kaziah Hancock, and she is a professional artist from Manti, Utah. Three years ago, she painted a portrait of the first American mortality from the state of Utah to present to his family. She created a visual legacy for the suffering family, and decided to continue this humanitarian effort for over 500 other men and women who gave their lives for their country.

She does not charge for these wonderful tributes, and also sends them via FEDEX to the surviving families throughout the country. Along with a personal note about the loved one to the family. She calls her endeavor, “Project Compassion.”

“I don’t know how political I am. I don’t get into all that crap. I just love freedom, that’s all… At least it is a way to say I love you, kiddo, that you will never be forgotten.”

Here are links to the video, along with her site:

Paintings Immortalize Fallen Troops, Military Times Video.

Project Compassion by Kaziah Hancock.

She has done with a brush what few could adequately express in words.

Frederick Douglass believed that it was important for escaped slaves, and other free black men, to fight for the Union. He met with President Lincoln to discuss the matter, and was instrumental in the formation of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment from Massachusetts. This was the first all-black Union Regiment during the American Civil War.

Mr. Douglass once wrote an essay, “Why A Colored Man Should Enlist.” I would like to provide an excerpt, and would invite you to read the entire contents at the referenced link below.

“The question ‘Why should a colored man enlist’ has, during the past five weeks, been repeatedly put to us while raising men for the Fifty Fourth Regiment, and we cannot, at present, perhaps, do a better service to the cause of our people or to the cause of the country, than by giving a few of the many reasons why a colored man should enlist.

1st. You are a man, although a colored man. If you were only a horse or an ox, incapable of deciding whether the rebels are right or wrong, you would have no responsibility and might, like the horse or ox, go on eating your corn or grass in total indifference as to which side is victorious or vanquished in this conflict.

You are, however, no horse and no ox, but a man, and whatever concerns man should interest you. He who looks upon a conflict between right and wrong, and does not help the right against the wrong, despises and insults his own nature, and invites contempt of mankind.

As between the North and South, the North is clearly in the right, and the South is flagrantly in the wrong. You should, therefore, simply as a matter of right and wrong, give your utmost aid to the North. There is, in presence of such a contest, no neutrality for any man. You are either for the Government, or against the Government. Manhood requires you to take sides, and you are mean or noble, according to how you choose between action and inaction. There is, if you are sound in body and mind, nothing in your color to excuse you from enlisting in the service of the Republic against its enemies. If color should not be a criterion of rights, neither should it be a standard of duty. The whole duty of man belongs alike to white and black.” (1)

Reference

(1) Why A Colored Man Should Enlist: The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress.

I read a surprising article last week in the BBC Online. Mr. Michael Bristow, their correspondent in Beijing, reported on a story of modern day slavery in a brickwork factory in Shanxi Province. Some of his findings were horrific:

“The labourers had to work unpaid for 20 hours at a time, and were only given bread and water in return… When police raided the brickworks they discovered foul-smelling workers who had been wearing the same clothes for a year. They had no facilities to wash, and they had not had their hair cut or brushed their teeth.

“The grime on their bodies was so thick it could be scraped off with a knife, the Beijing News said.” (1)

The above description reminded me of something that I read in The Narrative:

“I was probably between seven and eight years old when I left Colonel Lloyd’s plantation. I left it with joy. I shall never forget the ecstasy with which I received the intelligence that my old master (Anthony) had determined to let me go to Baltimore, to live with Mr. Hugh Auld, brother to my old master’s son-in-law, Captain Thomas Auld. I received this information about three days before my departure. They were three of the happiest days I ever enjoyed. I spent the most part of all these three days in the creek, washing off the plantation scurf, and preparing myself for my departure.

The pride of appearance which this would indicate was not my own. I spent the time in washing, not so much because I wished to, but because Mrs. Lucretia had told me I must get all the dead skin off my feet and knees before I could go to Baltimore; for the people in Baltimore were very cleanly, and would laugh at me if I looked dirty. Besides, she was going to give me a pair of trousers, which I should not put on unless I got all the dirt off me. The thought of owning a pair of trousers was great indeed! It was almost a sufficient motive, not only to make me take off what would be called by pig- drovers the mange, but the skin itself. I went at it in good earnest, working for the first time with the hope of reward.”

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave: Chapter V.

Reference

(1) ‘Slaves’ Rescued From China Firm, BBC News Online, 08 June 2007.

The New York Times had a very interesting article, which was written by Sarah Rimer, about new doors opening at prestigious universities so that many would not be shut out:

“Concerned that the barriers to elite institutions are being increasingly drawn along class lines, and wanting to maintain some role as engines of social mobility, about two dozen schools — Amherst, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, the University of Virginia, Williams and the University of North Carolina, among them — have pushed in the past few years to diversify economically.

They are trying tactics like replacing loans with grants and curtailing early admission, which favors the well-to-do and savvy. But most important, Amherst, for instance, is doing more than giving money to low-income students; it is recruiting them and taking their socioeconomic background — defined by family income, parents’ education and occupation level — into account when making admissions decisions.” (1)

One student was discussed in detail. His name was Anthony Abraham Jack from Miami, and he has just graduated from Amherst College. Last Sunday, Mr. Jack received a special honor from the President of the University, Dr. Marx. It was for the “Greatest appreciation of and desire for a college education.” Here was the response of this talented young man:

“Thanks to Amherst, Mr. Jack said, he has rewritten the narrative of his life. It isn’t about ‘a poor black student’ going ‘from the bottom to the top,’ as he once believed, he wrote in an essay about his family and all they have done for him. His mother, his older brother, his younger sister and his two nieces were here at graduation, having driven up in a rented van from Miami.” (2)

Quite a different “Narrative” by Mr. Jack than the one we have read from Mr. Douglass. But I believe that Mr. Douglass would be honored by the achievements of this determined young man. For it was due to the efforts of men such as Frederick Douglass that the torch has been passed to subsequent generations with an appreciation for learning.

“The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers. With their kindly aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read. When I was sent of errands, I always took my book with me, and by going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return. I used also to carry bread with me, enough of which was always in the house, and to which I was always welcome; for I was much better off in this regard than many of the poor white children in our neighborhood. This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge.”

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Chapter VII.

Congratulations and best wishes to Mr. Jack.

References

(1 and 2) Elite Colleges Open New Door To Low-Income Youth, 27 May 2007, The New York Times.

A proposed school, called the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, New York, has met with firm opposition due to its unique mission. The school wants to become the first public school to study Arabic and Islamic culture. But the melting pot is boiling over in New York. Should religious doctrine be taught in a public school?

“But nearly three months after plans for the middle school were first announced, a beleaguered Department of Education is fending off attacks from two angry camps: parents from Public School 282, the elementary school in Park Slope, Brooklyn, that was assigned to share building space with the Khalil Gibran school, and a handful of columnists who have called the proposed academy a madrassa, which teaches the Koran…

Khalil Gibran, named after the noted Lebanese-born poet and philosopher who wrote ‘The Prophet,’ is a partnership with New Visions for Public Schools, a nonprofit agency that has helped open dozens of schools, and the Arab-American Family Support Center, a social service agency in Brooklyn. Plans for the school called for it to enroll 81 students for the 2007-8 school year, beginning with sixth graders only, and eventually expanding to Grades 6 through 12. It was envisioned like other dual-language schools in the city, like the Shuang Wen Academy, a top-performing elementary school on the Lower East Side that teaches classes both in English and in Mandarin.” (1)

Frederick Douglass ran into fierce opposition when he tried to teach other slaves how to read. He wanted to use their one day off, Sunday, to spread literacy and the Gospel. But as you will see, he was met with the hypocritical stance common of most Christian slaveholders.

“I began to address my companions on the subject of education and the advantages of intelligence over ignorance, and, as far as I dared, I tried to show the agency of ignorance in keeping men in slavery. Webster’s spelling-book and the Columbian Orator were looked into again. As summer came on and the long Sabbath days stretched themselves over our idleness, I became uneasy and wanted a Sabbath-school in which to exercise my gifts and to impart to my brother-slaves the little knowledge I possessed.

A house was hardly necessary in the summer time; I could hold my school under the shade of an old oak tree as well as any where else. The thing was to get the scholars, and to have them thoroughly imbued with the idea to learn. Two such boys were quickly found in Henry and John, and from them the contagion spread. I was not long in bringing around me twenty or thirty young men, who enrolled themselves gladly in my Sabbath-school, and were willing to meet me regularly under the trees or elsewhere, for the purpose of learning to read. It was surprising with what ease they provided themselves with spelling-books. These were mostly the cast-off books of their young masters or mistresses.

I taught at first on our own farm. All were impressed with the necessity of keeping the matter as private as possible, for the fate of the St. Michaels attempt was still fresh in the minds of all. Our pious masters at St. Michaels must not know that a few of their dusky brothers were learning to read the Word of God, lest they should come down upon us with the lash and chain. We might have met to drink whisky, to wrestle, fight, and to do other unseemly things, with no fear of interruption from the saints or the sinners of St. Michaels. But to meet for the purpose of improving the mind and heart, by learning to read the sacred scriptures, was a nuisance to be instantly stopped.

The slaveholders there, like slaveholders elsewhere, preferred to see the slaves engaged in degrading sports, rather than acting like moral and accountable beings. Had any one, at that time, asked a religious white man in St. Michaels, the names of three men in that town whose lives were most after the pattern of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, the reply would have been: Garrison West, class-leader, Wright Fairbanks and Thomas Auld, both also class-leaders; and yet these men, armed with mob-like missiles, ferociously rushed in upon my Sabbath-school and forbade our meeting again on pain of having our backs subjected to the bloody lash. This same Garrison West was my class-leader, and I had thought him a Christian until he took part in breaking up my school. He led me no more after that.

The plea for this outrage was then, as it is always, the tyrant’s plea of necessity. If the slaves learned to read they would learn something more and something worse. The peace of slavery would be disturbed. Slave rule would be endangered. I do not dispute the soundness. After getting the school nicely started a second time, holding it in the woods behind the barn, and in the shade of trees, I succeeded in inducing a free colored man who lived several miles from our house to permit me to hold my school in a room at his house. He incurred much peril in doing so, for the assemblage was an unlawful one. I had at one time more than forty pupils, all of the right sort, and many of them succeeded in learning to read. I have had various employments during my life, but to none do I look back with more satisfaction than to this one. An attachment, deep and permanent, sprang up between me and my persecuted pupils, which made my parting from them intensely painful.

Besides my Sunday-school, I devoted three evenings a week to my other fellow slaves during the winter. Those dear souls who came to my Sabbath-school came not because it was popular or reputable to do so, for they came with a liability of having forty stripes laid on their naked backs. In this Christian country men and women were obliged to hide in barns and woods and trees from professing Christians, in order to learn to read the Holy Bible. Their minds had been cramped and starved by their cruel masters. The light of education had been completely excluded and their hard earnings had been taken to educate their master’s children. I felt a delight in circumventing the tyrants and in blessing the victims of their curses.”

Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, Chapter XVIII.

Reference

(1) Plan for Arabic School in Brooklyn Spurs Protests, New York Times, 4 May 2007.