What do you think?
Rate this book
Great Speeches by Frederick Douglass
Author, abolitionist, political activist, and philosopher, Frederick Douglass was a pivotal figure in the decades of struggle leading up to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. This inexpensive compilation of his speeches adds vital detail to the portrait of a great historical figure.
Featured addresses include "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" which was delivered on July 5, 1852, more than ten years before the Emancipation Proclamation. "Had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke," Douglass assured his listeners, "For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake." Other eloquent and dramatic orations include "Self-Made Men," first delivered in 1859, which defines the principles behind individual success, and "The Church and Prejudice," delivered at the Plymouth County Anti-Slavery Society in 1841.
Featured addresses include "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" which was delivered on July 5, 1852, more than ten years before the Emancipation Proclamation. "Had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke," Douglass assured his listeners, "For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake." Other eloquent and dramatic orations include "Self-Made Men," first delivered in 1859, which defines the principles behind individual success, and "The Church and Prejudice," delivered at the Plymouth County Anti-Slavery Society in 1841.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 16, 2013
61 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Frederick Douglass
1,037 books1,681 followersFrederick Douglass (né Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey) was born a slave in the state of Maryland in 1818. After his escape from slavery, Douglass became a renowned abolitionist, editor and feminist. Having escaped from slavery at age 20, he took the name Frederick Douglass for himself and became an advocate of abolition. Douglass traveled widely, and often perilously, to lecture against slavery.
His first of three autobiographies, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, was published in 1845. In 1847 he moved to Rochester, New York, and started working with fellow abolitionist Martin R. Delany to publish a weekly anti-slavery newspaper, North Star. Douglass was the only man to speak in favor of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's controversial plank of woman suffrage at the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. As a signer of the Declaration of Sentiments, Douglass also promoted woman suffrage in his North Star. Douglass and Stanton remained lifelong friends.
In 1870 Douglass launched The New National Era out of Washington, D.C. He was nominated for vice-president by the Equal Rights Party to run with Victoria Woodhull as presidential candidate in 1872. He became U.S. marshal of the District of Columbia in 1877, and was later appointed minister resident and consul-general to Haiti. His District of Columbia home is a national historic site. D. 1895.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1...
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhi...
http://www.loc.gov/collection/frederi...
http://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits...
His first of three autobiographies, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, was published in 1845. In 1847 he moved to Rochester, New York, and started working with fellow abolitionist Martin R. Delany to publish a weekly anti-slavery newspaper, North Star. Douglass was the only man to speak in favor of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's controversial plank of woman suffrage at the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. As a signer of the Declaration of Sentiments, Douglass also promoted woman suffrage in his North Star. Douglass and Stanton remained lifelong friends.
In 1870 Douglass launched The New National Era out of Washington, D.C. He was nominated for vice-president by the Equal Rights Party to run with Victoria Woodhull as presidential candidate in 1872. He became U.S. marshal of the District of Columbia in 1877, and was later appointed minister resident and consul-general to Haiti. His District of Columbia home is a national historic site. D. 1895.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1...
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhi...
http://www.loc.gov/collection/frederi...
http://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 20, 2024
At first I was hesitant to read this book, thinking it was most like very boring, and it was until page 10, when Frederick Douglass (FD) was getting out of his system: SLAVERY
1846
"The slaveholders resort to all kinds of cruelty. I have material enough for five or six evenings, but I will not dwell at length upon these cruelties." "Starvation, the bloody whip, the chain, the gag, the thumb-screw, cat-hauling, the cat-o'-nine-tails, the dungeon, the bloodhound are all in requisition to keep the slave in his condition as a slave in the United States."
1848
"We have been accustomed in this country to hear much talk about "Christian American, and Infidel France." I want to say in behalf of France, that I go for that infidelity. One of the members of the Provisional Government of Franch, speaks to the black and mulatto men, congratulating them and expressing his sentiments upon the the immediate emancipation of their brethren in the French Islands. In France, the negro is a man, while you (US) make beautiful speeches in behalf of liberty, yet also deny us (negroes) our humanity and traffic in our flesh."
"I want to believe that there is an undercurrent pervading the mass of people in this country, as in France, uniting Democrat and Whig, and men of no party, which shall one day rise up in one glorious Fraternity for Freedom, bringing down the haughty citadel of Slavery with all its bloody towers and turrets."
Not to be missed are 1876 "Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln" and in 1852 "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" Also great is the section of John Brown with much the same viewpoint as the miniseries, "The Good Lord Bird." Great speeches all around! Bravo!
1846
"The slaveholders resort to all kinds of cruelty. I have material enough for five or six evenings, but I will not dwell at length upon these cruelties." "Starvation, the bloody whip, the chain, the gag, the thumb-screw, cat-hauling, the cat-o'-nine-tails, the dungeon, the bloodhound are all in requisition to keep the slave in his condition as a slave in the United States."
1848
"We have been accustomed in this country to hear much talk about "Christian American, and Infidel France." I want to say in behalf of France, that I go for that infidelity. One of the members of the Provisional Government of Franch, speaks to the black and mulatto men, congratulating them and expressing his sentiments upon the the immediate emancipation of their brethren in the French Islands. In France, the negro is a man, while you (US) make beautiful speeches in behalf of liberty, yet also deny us (negroes) our humanity and traffic in our flesh."
"I want to believe that there is an undercurrent pervading the mass of people in this country, as in France, uniting Democrat and Whig, and men of no party, which shall one day rise up in one glorious Fraternity for Freedom, bringing down the haughty citadel of Slavery with all its bloody towers and turrets."
Not to be missed are 1876 "Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln" and in 1852 "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" Also great is the section of John Brown with much the same viewpoint as the miniseries, "The Good Lord Bird." Great speeches all around! Bravo!
Displaying 1 of 1 review