Collected Articles of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Collected Articles of Frederick Douglass Reviews

• 
  Nick

  If by "collected articles" you mean 2 articles. The first one is the story about how Douglas escaped from slavery. It is pretty eye opening if youve never read such a narrative before. Really shows you how brutal their situation is, and how ridiculously powerful and authoritarian the state was, for all those who glorify ye olde republic. The second essay was shorter, and I was less of a fan of it. It was essentially an ideological defense of radical reconstruction. yuck.
  
  Just the first essay gets 5 stars. Then, -1 star for the second essay, and -1 star for being a phony "collection."
• 
  Anthony

  The title is a bit misleading as it only contains two articles. If you've never read anything on Frederick Douglass, then I think it's a good place to start due to its brevity (the first article, not so much the second).
• 
  Mathias

  
  Collected Articles of Frederick Douglass (Audiobook)
  by Frederick Douglass
  
  This collection consists of two articles and its title is therefore, unlike some reviewers bemoan, fully justified. It was released as an eBook in 2008 (and as a LibriVox audiobook, to which I listened, in 2014) to, if I understand correctly, commemorate Martin Luther King Jr day (or the 1993 Gutenberg Douglass book, of which this is an accompaniment, was made to commemorate the Holiday - the Gutenberg text is unclear about this because of a grammatical error).
  
  The first article I recommend to everybody who has read his first autobiography, which was written when the slave system of the South was still ongoing. And because slavery, and with it the slave owners, still existed, Douglass had in some cases to be careful and omit certain facts as well as the names of people who helped him, so as to not put innocent people in great danger. As he writes, helping escape slaves was treated like a murder case. In this short recap of his autobiography, which was written after the civil war, he adds all these details that were left out of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. So everybody who enjoyed his initial autobiography might also like this essay or be interested in its additional material.
  
  After Douglass escaped, he settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Today, it has about 95’000 inhabitants and is the sixth-largest city of the state. On Wikipedia I also read that it became one of the first fermentation centers of abolitionism and an important stop on the Underground Railroad (which Douglass was critical of).
  Nevertheless, Douglass says that the city was not entirely free of racism. For example, the New Bedford Lyceum refused to allow any coloured person to attend the lectures delivered in this hall. However, this changed after notable men like Charles Sumner, Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson (the only man of these that I know) and Horace refused to lecture there until the restriction was abandoned.
  
  The second essay is something quite different. As Nick wrote in his review, “It was essentially an ideological defense of radical reconstruction”. In it, Douglass calls for a despotic central government that has the power to “control even the municipal regulations of States, and to make them conform to its own despotic will”. The only sympathetic thing I can find in these lines is that Douglass is frank in the usage of his terms.
  
  He argues that slavery in the South could go on without law and even against law. The only way to end slavery is “to make our government entirely consistent with itself, and give to every loyal citizen the elective franchise”.
  I do not know what “making a government consistent with itself” means or how it is achieved and I reject his premise that slavery could exist “without laws”. It was massive state interference that made the unconstitutional (on both state and federal level) slave system of the South possible. If it weren’t for the state’s support of slavery, the slaves would just have run away. Those who tried to hinder them would have done so illegally and a state who doesn’t support slavery would have punished these persons severely.
  
  
  Later on however, he says something I agree with: “The South must be opened to the light of law and liberty.” While I’m against centralism and think that problems should be solved locally, it should be clear that the talk of “state rights”, as the right likes to do, is nonsense: states do not have right, only persons can have rights. And not only does the state not have rights – Nobody and nothing has the right to violate the constitution when it is in accordance with natural law. And like every true federalist and anti-centralist I understand that there is no problem when the federal level intercedes with a strong arm, if the state or municipal level violates natural justice like the South did. He writes of “frightful murders and wholesale massacres” that were “perpetrated in the very presence of Federal soldiers”. And as we, living today, know, there was in the South, until quite recently, segregation and the racist chain-gang system. So the reconstruction, as it happened, was not a happy one.
  
  So Douglass’s concerns were reasonable and appropriate. I’m not sure about his solution, mostly because I really don’t understand what he means. For example, he writes that the common-sense way of doing the reconstruction was “to establish in the South one law, one government, one administration of justice, one condition to the exercise of the elective franchise, for men of all races and colors alike”. Does he mean the whole South should become one state? And how would that address the problem? I have no clue, I guess I’m missing a lot of background knowledge as I do not know much of the history of this period. Still, I doubt that Douglass is on the right track here. But I agree with Douglass that no racism by the Southern states against blacks should have been tolerated by the federal government.
  
• 
  John

  
  
  This book offers a real window on a dark chapter of American history.
  
  Douglass had personally experienced much suffering due to the intolerant racial attitudes held by so many white people at that time. He had felt the skin splitting sting of the plantation master’s whip and had witnessed people of his race being bought and sold just like so much furniture or livestock.
  
  So he was understandably suspicious of white people. But Abraham Lincoln was one white person who not only enjoyed Douglass’ respect but his warm affection as well. Douglass said of Lincoln, “There was no vain pomp and ceremony about him…In his company I was never in any way reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color.”
  
  For Douglass, Lincoln was someone whom he “could love, honor, and trust without reserve or doubt.”
  
  
  
  Lincoln commented that, "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."
  
  
• 
  Lady Makaveli

  Still applicable- great read
  
  Frederick Douglass gives us his emotionally moving story of what it meant to go from being a slave to then being free, experiencing for the first time earning what was rightfully his in wage. This was extremely touching and heartbreaking all the same. The next part he continues on to discuss the governments role, lack of action and the expectations we as a people should, and some of us do, have regarding the quality and standards of those in office... So often his words rang true regarding Trump and his group of sickos.
  In hopes of opening more eyes, I think this piece of writing should be regarded as necessary to all. It's more than just a historical piece, sadly. At the same time I am grateful someone as brilliant as Mr. Douglass exploded the truthful topic within these pieces of writing.
• 
  darío hereñú

  Este libro me fue recomendado por una abogada. Desde la primera leída, me generó sentimientos de impotencia, angustia, ansiedad. No por la visión de Frederick, sino por la sociedad que lo defenestraba, lo ignoraba, lo acechaba, lo invisibilizaba.
  Nacido esclavo, no luchó por su raza (este es mi punto de vista personal), sino más bien, por la dignidad de la Humanidad.
  Creo que él intuyó que el segregacionismo no tenía mucho futuro en el futuro. Pero aun así, se encargó de encender hogueras (no para quemar ministerios y leyes) sino para alumbrar el camino.
  Aquel ansiado futuro de Frederick aun no ha llegado.
  Pero más tarde que temprano, creo haber entendido y creo que Todos los Hombres entenderán que aquellas ideas supremacistas no fueron -sino- instrumentos de separación entre los Hombres, justamente para hacerlos a Todos... esclavos.
• 
  Naren

  I was surprised to note there were only two articles in this collection. However, both were an enlightening read. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a primer about a dark period of America's history. One that is still going on in some shape and form mostly because of idiotic political leadership.
• 
  Kim

  Kind of reviewing the title rather than the content. The content was excellent just not enough of it. Usually a collection has more than 2 items in it. There are literally just 2 articles. I should have been more aware that there weren't very many pages so it is my own fault but it just isn't what I would call a collection.
• 
  Timothy Morrison

  We shall overcome
• 
  Lo

  If you haven't read any Frederick Douglass, this is a terrible place to start. He wrote three autobiographies during his life. The first,
  Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, covers his childhood in slavery and eventual escape. As a free man, he was so eloquent and impressive that the veracity of his story was challenged - some Harvard kids just couldn't believe a slave could speak so well! - and so he risked everything and published his story to prove his word. Then, he had to flee the country because his old "master" was still looking for him!
  
  Years later, after the Civil War, he wrote a second and finally third version of his story. The last one,
  Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, is the book assigned in grade school, and the best known these days. It gives a briefer account of his early life, followed by an account of the many fascinating things that happened since he first wrote his story. If you're looking for a sort of overview of why he's important, this is probably your best bet.
  
  I personally would recommend
  Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, though, because it's a better story and the best seller during his lifetime. Because he was so young at the time, this version gives more depth into his early life, which is fascinating. Every year I throw a Frederick Douglass party on February 14 (a much more fun holiday to celebrate than Valentine's, and everyone cool will come to your party), and I tell a story about him. All the good stories come from this book, like how he tricked white children into helping him learn to read - because he had heard an education would make him a bad slave. Boy, did it ever!
  
  So why read this collection of articles? It's short, just two magazine articles. The second is an essay about Reformation, which is not going to interest you unless you're very keen on that topic/time period (guilty as charged!). I enjoyed it just for the excellent turns of phrase, and learned a little more about the politics of the time (though he refers to current events expecting his readers to know what he means; I had to stop and look things up a few times).
  
  The first article is the reason I would recommend this. When telling his story, Douglass left out the details of exactly how he escaped slavery. He couldn't incriminate anyone who helped him, as it was a serious crime. Further, he didn't want to draw slave-hunters' attention towards the various little loopholes and tactics that helped him along his way. Now, nearly forty years later, he finally gets around to telling the tale. He doesn't think it's worth telling, but he knows someone out there is curious. Yes. That person is ME!
  
  If you read his other works and want to know the details, come back and check this out. It's not all that exciting (in F's words, he would have told the story sooner "had there been anything very heroic or thrilling in the events connected with my escape, for I am sorry to say I have nothing of that sort to tell"). I have read more gripping tales of escape, but freedom is freedom and few can express concepts as eloquently as FD. It's awesome to hear him try to describe what even he struggles to articulate - what it means finally to be free.
  
  As you may have gathered, some people are really into Frederick Douglass. When a feature-length motion picture demonstrating his supreme awesomeness is eventually released, you will be one of those people too. Until that day, we have his wonderful writings to enjoy :)
  
  tl;dr? check out the drunken history episode on Frederick Douglass, which is obviously not scholarly but honestly pretty great at conveying just how incredible his life was.
• 
  Elizabeth

  Collected Articles of Frederick Douglass has a bit of a poor name. When one thinks of a collection, one usually assumes more than two. However, I found these two articles to be absolutely fascinating and an absolute must-read.
  
  "My Escape From Slavery" was absolutely enthralling and I couldn't stop reading it. I feel like I really learned from it and I feel like it's an important firsthand account to read in studying the period. "Reconstruction" came off a bit textbook-like at times, but I felt it was equally as important and that it demonstrated political feelings quite well.
  
  I feel this collection helped me to delve a bit more into the period (my American history could be better) and more into this important historical figure. It made me want to know more and it has me looking forward to reading his autobiographies.
• 
  Noelle

  This book was fascinating. The events are shocking and even sometimes frightening to think about what Mr. Douglass went through. I enjoyed it, although at times it was a little dry and textbook like. He writes in a very matter of fact way.
• 
  Karen

  Would like it better if the collection were more than just two essays.
• 
  April Corbett (Dorris)

  Reading this in the midst of the Ferguson, Mo riots really moved me. We cannot forget the past or think that it has no relevance in our present.
• 
  Nancy Davison

  This man has always been one of my bona fide heroes. The first part of this book is his description of how he fled slavery and the other is an article that demonstrates his high and piercing intellect.