EOTO #1: The Life and Legacy of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass, born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, was speculated to be born in February 1818 (though he believed he was born in 1817). Although his date of birth was never confirmed, he celebrated his birthday on Valentine's Day because as a child, he remembered a "sweet cake" that his mother gave him that was in the shape of a heart. 

Born into slavery in Cordova, Maryland, Bailey was taken care of by his maternal grandmother, Betsy Bailey, who was enslaved, at the Wye House Plantation. This plantation was just 12 miles away from his mother Harriet Bailey's plantation. She would visit him only a few times before her death when he was 7 years old. 

Douglass was owned by Edward Lloyd and his overseer Captain Aaron Anthony. Shortly after Anthon'y death, Douglass was sent to Sophia and Hugh Auld in Baltimore, Maryland. When he arrived, Sophia taught him the alphabet and how to read, but these lessons ended abruptly when Hugh said that this education was "unlawful" and "unsafe" to teach a slave to read, stating, "If you give a slave an inch, he will take an ell. A slave should know nothing but to obey his master-- to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best slave in the world."

Wye House Plantation

Douglass was also leased for one year to a local farmer Edward Covey, who was known as a "slave breaker," in January 1833. It had not even been a week before he began experiencing the cruel beatings at the hands of Covey for six months. In the middle of his lease, Douglass attacked Covey and was never beaten again. 

At this, Douglass stated, "This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free."

Anna Murray

In 1834, he was sent to William Freeland's farm. Although the conditions and treatment were far better than Covey's, Douglass still desired to be free. He stayed there until 1836 when he escaped Freeland's farm. He was imprisoned and sent back to Baltimore with the Auld family until 1838, where he joined a debating society and met his future wife Anna Murray.

On September 3rd, 1838, Douglass broke his chains and succeeded in reaching New York, stating that he had felt like "one who had escaped a den of hungry lions." There, he met Mr. David Ruggles who took him to his boarding house. Douglass and Murray married on September 15th, 1838, and Ruggles recommended they leave for New Bedford, Massachusetts. 

In New Bedford, Douglass and Murray had five children: Rosetta, Lewis Henry, Frederick Jr, Charles, and Annie. 

In 1839, Douglass was exposed to William Lloyd Garrison and other abolitionist leaders. He had heard Garrison speak of The Liberator and praised him for his dedication to abolition. With this inspiration, Douglass attended an Anti-Slavery Convention in 1842 and spoke about his experience as an enslaved person, to which Garrison encouraged him to continue. 

"Madam, In reply to your letter dated Newcast on Tyne 8th mo 17th 1846 I state
that I will take 150 sterling for the manumission of my slave Frederick Bailey,
alias, Douglass- I am prepared to sign such papers or deed of Manumission as will
forever exempt him from any claims by any person or persons, in other words the 
papers will render him entirely & legally free."

In 1845 he published Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. He spent the following years touring the globe to continue attending anti-slavery conventions and lecturing about abolition. In 1846, he became a free man. In 1847, he moved to New York and published The North Star, an abolitionist newspaper that served as a platform to denounce slavery and advocate for the rights of African Americans.

Along with The North Star, Douglass merged with the Liberty Party Paper to form the Frederick Douglass Paper. Additionally, he published Douglass' Monthly and New National Era. 

In 1847, he gave a speech entitled "Country, Conscience, and the Anti-Slavery Cause" where he stated, "I have not, I cannot have, any love for this country, as such, or for its Constitution. I desire to see it overthrown as speedily as possible and its Constitution shivered in a thousand fragments, rather than that this foul curse should continue to remain as now."

Along with abolition, Douglass tried to advocate for women's rights. He attended the Women's Rights Convention in 1848 in Seneca Falls. He initially supported suffrage for all, but had changed his stance to focusing on Black male suffrage with women's suffrage following along later. 

Douglass was extremely involved with the government. With the start of the Civil War in 1861, he advocated for the inclusion of Black soldiers in the Union Army. He met with President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 and 1864, advocating for the rights and inclusion of enslaved people.  He became the first Black U.S. Marshall in 1877 and was selected as a U.S. Minister Resident to Haiti in 1889. 

On February 20th, 1895, Douglass passed away shortly after his sessions at the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C, passing away at Cedar Hill later that evening. 

Frederick Douglass was a towering figure in the right for abolition and equality. His courage, leadership, and unwavering commitment to justice transformed the course of history. Beyond his activism, he also reshaped journalism, using The North Star as a tool for social change for enslaved and free Black people. 

Mid Term Reflection

My understanding of journalism has changed since the beginning of the semester. When I signed up for this class, I had no idea it would be a journalism history course. I didn't really bother reading the description of the class, I just knew that I wanted to take a journalism class to help me decide if I wanted to minor in journalism. Now, the choice is clear. 

History is one of my favorite things to learn about, and tying it with my passion for writing and learning has made every Thursday exciting. 

We started the semester with the six freedoms of the First Amendment: freedom of and from religion,  freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of petition, and freedom of speech. Although I knew our rights encapsulated in the First Amendment, I felt like this was a foundation to establish the key role of a journalist: to act as a check on the government. 

We discussed that in order to perform this role, we need an adversarial press, or the idea that the press should never act as an arm of the government. The press has always been against the government, (until 24-hour cable news, anyway) not doing their bidding. In this recitation, Professor Dean Smith emphasized that it is not the press's job to keep the government's secrets; rather, it is vitally important that the press reveal those secrets- that is part of their adversarial role. 

Scanning through my notes, I can't help but notice the Zone of Autonomy triangle for journalists. This triangle has been one of my main takeaways from the course. As shown in the image on the left, the points of the triangle mark the clauses in the First Amendment, but it actually explains that the government can impact events outside of the triangle, but cannot mess with the inside. It's protection from the government. 

I also loved when we created a timeline tracing the colonial press era to the high modern era, charting our first paper to the rise of 24-hour cable news. Understanding the early history of journalism actually helped me understand the importance of journalism more, especially with early papers such as the Boston Newsletter and important figures like James Franklin. 

This course has not only deepened my understanding of journalism’s history but also solidified my decision to pursue a minor in journalism. The connection of history, writing, and the critical role of the press in society has made this class both enlightening and inspiring. I’m excited to see how these insights will shape my future studies and my perspective of the world.