Joining us once again on book tv is congressman gerald connolly, democrat from virginia. Give us an update on your reading list, congressman. Peter, as you know i read at least a book a week and the last broadcast, the book read update, there are two i want to start with. One is this monumental biography of Frederick Douglass by david wright. Its probably the definitive biography of Frederick Douglass and especially with whats going on in the United States and its fight for Racial Justice nobody was more consequential and has been more consequential on the question of race in america and Frederick Douglass, way ahead of his time. He was not only an abolitionist and a passionate abolitionist as a former slave, but he insisted from the earliest times in the 1840s, right towards the end of the 19th century the quality was the goal. And he would brook no deviation from that. It was very clear about what the goal was and so many of his words ring true today i really recommend the biography
By david wright. Its probably the definitive biography of douglas and especially of what is going on in the United States and the fight for racial justice. Nobody was more consequential and has been more consequential on the question of race in america. Boy ahead of his time. He was not only an abolitionist, passionist and former slave but he insisted from the earliest times in the 1840s, almost towards the end of the 19th century, that equality was the goal. And he would book no deviation from that. He was very clear about what the goal was. And so any of his words ring true today and i really recommend this biography to everybody is a long read but it is really powerful. Peter one of the things that i learned about Frederick Douglass this year was that is also very active secretary. Connolly yes he was very consistent and had a distinguished career and was able to talk to a mixed audience. In a time when that was unusual to say the least. And really its powerful when they had been id
Antebellum congress. Well start with a review of the first and Second Party Systems. Im then going to introduce a concept, a new concept to you. Thats the idea of political culture. Ill compare that to something weve in counter before, Political Parties. Finally the bulk of the lecture is presenting evidence, new evidence, in fact, some drawn from my own research and from those of other scholars in the antebellum culture. I have three major areas to talk about today. One, Tobacco Culture. Two, political friendships. Three, affairs of honor. Well conclude there after getting through that evidence. All right. So like we obvious do in the class im going to start with an image on the screen and im going to ask you to tell me what you see. This is Lady Washingtons reception from 1861. Take is in. Who can point out something you see right away that strikes you . There we go. Yeah. Lady washington is on a platform. Yeah. Like how high do you think she is maybe off the ground . Like, i dont kn
Then im going to introduce a new concept to you, and thats the idea of political culture. And i will compare that concept to something weve encountered before, Political Parties. And finally, the bulk of the lecture is going to be presenting new evidence, in fact on the antebellum political culture. I have three major areas of evidence to talk about today, one, Tobacco Culture, two, political friendships, and, three, affairs of honor. And well conclude there after getting through that evidence. All right. Like we obvious do in the class, im going to start today with an image on the screen and im going to ask you to tell me what you see. This is Lady Washingtons reception from 1861. Take it in. Who can point out something that you see right away that strikes you . There we go. Lady washington is on a platform. Yeah. How high do you think she is, maybe, off the ground . Like, i dont know, a foot. A good foot. Thats a good piece there. What else do you see . Another one down there. Thank
And especially with whats going on in the United States, no one was more consequential and has been more consequential on the question of race in america than Frederick Douglass. Way ahead of his time. He was not only an abolitionist and and a passionate abolitionist as a former slave, but he insisted from the earliest times, in the 1840s right through his death almost toward the end of the 19th century, that equality was the goal. And he was, he would take no deviation from that. He was very clear about what the goal was. And so many of his words ring true today, and i really recommend the biography for everybody. Its a long read but its really powerful. Host one of the things i learned about Frederick Douglass this year was thatalso a very active suffragist. Guest yes, yes, absolutely. He was very consistent. And, you know, had a distinguished career and, you know, was able to talk to mixed race audiences at a time where that was unusual, to say the least. And, you know, was willing