Legacy of leadership: Frederick Douglass’ speeches in Delaware, Ohio

Some weeks after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln an oblong box arrived at Frederick Douglass’ home in Rochester, New York.

Inside was the favorite walking cane of Abraham Lincoln. Mary Todd Lincoln had it sent to Douglass with a note letting him know that President Lincoln had considered him a special friend.

She said, “I know of no one who would appreciate this more than Fred Douglass.”

Douglass would often sign his name by adding to his signature “right is of no sex, truth is of no color.”

Frederick Douglass was one of the most recognizable persons of the 19th century and a major civil rights leader.

This talented man who counted President Lincoln as a friend, began life enslaved in Maryland. He taught himself to read and organized his escape to the North. Eventually he became an accomplished orator, advocating for the elimination of slavery.

He traveled the country before, during and after the Civil War, becoming renowned for his speeches about abolition, the irony of the Declaration of Independence and Black realities, voting rights for Black men, and women’s suffrage. 

During the Civil War, he organized Army units (“colored troops”) and had to battle to get acceptance of the idea. He became a confidant of Abraham Lincoln on ways to best integrate freed slaves into the changes that were inevitable after the Civil War. He was a principal advocate for the Emancipation Proclamation.  

This accomplished author and civil rights leader gave speeches in Delaware, Ohio three times between 1856 and 1870.

The first speech

On June 6, 1856, Douglass spoke on the issue of slavery at Templar Hall — located on the third floor of 17 N. Sandusky Street. The building still stands in downtown Delaware.

His focus, pre-Civil War, was an unrelenting push for ending slavery in the United States. This articulate, self-educated man considered facilitating freedom for all his life’s work. 

In 1845 Douglass received national recognition for his biography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and in 1855 he published My Bondage and My Freedom. The 1845 book placed Douglass at risk of being captured by bounty hunters, because he had escaped in 1838, but had not been manumitted.

He embarked on a 19-month speaking tour in England, Scotland, and Ireland. With the help of abolitionist friends, his freedom was purchased and he returned to America in 1847. Even so, he was always in danger of some retribution.

The year Douglass spoke in Delaware — 1856 — was an election year and Douglass supported the newly-formed Republican Party and its candidate John Fremont. He considered the Republican party a good avenue to gain some political power on national slavery issues.

Douglass owned and edited a pro-abolitionist paper, aptly named the North Star. He used the paper to attack slavery in the South as well as pointing out racism in the North. His speaking points at this time before the Civil War addressed three themes that would mirror the masthead of the North Star: liberty, humanity and equality.

Douglass’ focus changed with the beginning of the Civil War (1861-1865). Douglass was the driving force for Colored troop units to be organized. He wrote an editorial for his paper “Men of Color to Arms.”

In addition to his advocacy, he became advisor and counsel to President Lincoln on providing for equality for the almost 4 million enslaved persons (and the approximately 488,000 free Black persons in the 1860 census) upon emancipation. 

The second speech

Douglass spoke in Delaware for a second time on November 20, 1867, at the William St. Methodist Church in downtown Delaware. His topic was “Self-Made Men” shortly after the Civil War in 1867. 

During this immediate post-war period, Douglass’ speeches embedded advocacy for the 14th Amendment, which was ratified on July 9, 1868. The 14th Amendment was about two issues close to Douglass’ heart: defining birthright citizenship and guaranteeing equal protection under the law.  

In “Self-Made Men,” Douglass heralded a new era for Black citizens, but also stressed the importance of education, economic independence, and of exercising the newly-granted right to vote.  

Douglass certainly would have known about the sterling record of the 5th United States Colored Troops (USCT) which had been organized in Delaware during the Civil War. Among their many notable engagements, the 5th USCT was involved in the Battle of Petersburg and the surrender of the last major Confederate Army in the field, in North Carolina.

The third speech

Douglass’ last speech in Delaware, on March 12, 1870, at the Opera House addressed “Our Composite Nationality.”

The 15th Amendment had just been ratified on February 3, 1870. It provided the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This amendment was a major achievement, not just for Douglass and Black persons, but for all United States citizens.    

Douglass edited and published the newspaper The New National Era in Washington DC in the 1870s, and was the final president of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, trying unsuccessfully to save the institution that was part of the Freedman’s Bureau effort that Congress discontinued in 1872.

Subsequently, Douglass was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes as U.S Marshal for the District of Columbus (1877-1881); Recorder of Deeds from 1881-1886, appointed by President Garfield; Minister Resident and Consul General to Haiti from 1889-1891, appointed by President Benjamin Harrison; Assistant Secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission and as a Legislative Council Member for the D.C. Territorial Government.

He continued to write and speak about Civil Rights, decrying deteriorating conditions in the South, including disenfranchisement of Black persons by the late 1800s and continuing racial tensions in the North, and made a series of speeches and attended major conferences supporting women’s suffrage. In May 1888, in Boston, he identified himself as a “radical woman suffrage man.”

Frederick Douglass died suddenly at age 77 at his home, Cedar Hill, in Washington, DC on Feb. 20, 1895.  

Frederick Douglass Day is observed annually on Feb. 14.  Douglass did not know his exact birthdate, but recalls his mother called him her “Little Valentine.”

Douglass’ speeches are available at the Library of Congress site and in various books such as Frederick Douglass: Selected Works.