Prophet of Freedom, David Blight, 912 pp., illustrations, bibliographic notes, bibliography, Simon and Schuster Publishing, 2018, $39.95
Reviewed by Nathan Varnhold, Emerging Civil War Online
Understanding the life of the most famous and most outspoken
black abolitionist in American history is no easy task, but David W. Blight has
spent most of his career attempting to simplify a complicated subject. His
latest publication, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, is a testament to
his twenty-plus year career devoted to understanding Frederick Douglass; the
man, the words, the historical figure. It does not disappoint. Historians have
access to Douglass’s life works – speeches, writings, letters, and his
autobiographies – but those same historians struggle to define him. Blight
summarized the difficulties he faced in a book talk at Politics and Prose in
Washington, D.C.
Whenever the renowned author thought he had a firm idea of
Douglass, a new letter or article would surface and pull Douglass from his
grasp. Think of holding an ice cube. You have a firm grip on the cube only to
watch it melt and drip through your fingers. This biography is Blight’s attempt
to fully and deeply understand Frederick Douglass.
Douglass is initially introduced as Frederick Bailey, an
enslaved black born in Talbot County, Maryland. Rather quickly Blight shows the
transformation of Bailey, an American slave, into Douglass, a freedman. Even
though an evolution takes place, Frederick Douglass remained haunted, yet
inspired, by Bailey. Bailey’s life fueled the black abolitionist for answers
but reminded him that some answers will escape him, some questions cannot be
answered. Blight makes this an important facet. Blight sees this plight for
answers instrumental in Douglass’s evolution.
The freedman searches for
meaningful answers and the discovery of truth. “What to the Slave is the Fourth
of July?” is one such speech used by Blight to show Douglass’s constant
struggle for truth and answers. Do black Americans have a place in American
history and on the American continent? What meaning does independence have on
black Americans? These questions tackle the past, present, and the future of
black lives in the United States. For Douglass, the answers to these questions
become central to equality, protection, participation, and advancement.
Autobiographies offered another platform for Douglass to dispel myths, answer
questions, and find truth.
The first few chapters read as a literary analysis and an
overview of Douglass’s first autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. A conscious decision to begin with the
1845 autobiography allowed Blight an easy introduction to the starting point
for this biography’s research. For the first-time, Douglass introduced the
complexities of his experience as an American slave in print. He existed as a
human within a society, within an institution, that denied all aspects of
humanity to an enslaved race. Blight showed how Douglass challenged the
perception of humanity by giving the enslaved individual human fears, human
emotions, and human characteristics; something more than a name on a property
list. The autobiography challenged societal norms and gave Douglass his very first
national platform. Blight’s literary analysis recounts a journey for answers
and closure to a past, a past Douglass allowed no one to forget. He carried his
past with him like a talisman–to assault the minds of the American public.
To assault typically denotes violence. It is an aggressive
term, but then again Douglass proved an aggressive and an unrelenting
individual through words. Blight used the verb not to illustrate Douglass as a
violent human but to justify the subtitle of his biography: Prophet of Freedom.
Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel, whom Blight uses extensively in his work,
stated “the prophet is a human” who “employs notes one octave too high for our
ear…an assaulter of the mind. Often his words begin to burn where conscience
ends.”[1] Heschel tells us that prophets are not heard in the moment. Instead,
prophets incept an idea into the minds of listeners. These ideas slowly eat
away at the subconscious of the individual and promote action. Therefore, words
spoken by Douglass remain an everlasting lesson. Lessons for the present and
lessons for the future. Blight’s use of Heschel becomes key to understanding
the religiosity of Frederick Douglass and knowing the label, Prophet of
Freedom.
Christianity, millennialism, and the Bible became central to
Douglass’s life and central to the idea of a Prophet. In fact, the black
abolitionist’s religiosity is one of Blight’s themes for this book. Blight
connected Douglass with Moses. Both individuals argued against forced labor and
helped bring freedom to an enslaved population. Douglass’s beliefs allowed him
to attack the southern misconceptions of Christianity and the Bible through his
understanding of the Old Testament as a marker for natural law. Natural law
stood as the basic premise for equality to all people, not ordained to only one
race. Blight specializes in the Civil War Era and memory studies. His
understanding of religious texts and theology strengthened his innate ability
to simplify a complicated historical figure, connect Douglass to a larger
audience, and justify the use of Prophet.
Other themes include Douglass’s autobiographies, his
individual evolution, the relationship between his public and private lives,
and Douglass’s intellect. Each theme promoted the orators constant and
consistent assault upon the minds of the American public. Just as Douglass
transformed as an individual, his tactics changed throughout his life. From his
three autobiographies written to a specific audience, to his speeches and
articles printed throughout the nation, Blight used extensive records to
showcase the orator’s impact on a nation, thus lending credence to the notion
of Douglass the Prophet. The nation went through a tumultuous time and Blight
argues that the life of Frederick Douglass, more than any other American, tells
the transformation of the United States.
Simply stated, Frederick
Douglass: Prophet of Freedom is worth the read. Blight’s masterful prose,
use of sources, connection to his subject, and his overall knowledge offers
something for everyone. From the academic to the casual reader everyone will
walk away knowing that the life of Frederick Douglass was a microcosm of an
entire century. Unlike other biographies that focus on a subject in the
confines of an event, Blight studied, and continues to study the life of
Douglass, to emphasize an era. The lessons of the past have not fully been
learned. This biography is a look at the prolonged struggle for freedom and
equality that continue today.
Full Text Source: Emerging Civil War
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