In partnership with the library of congress, cspan rings you books that shaped america. Our series brings you books that have had a profound impact on the country. The first autobiography of abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass. Published in 1845 the narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass he tells his early life as a slave in maryland lynn tatian. Learning to read and working as a shipbuilder in baltimore and as cape from slavery to the north as a young adult. In of several memoirs he wrote about his life, this first narrative was an antislavery treatise, best and further the cause of abolition. For many readers outside of the south this may have been their introduction to the reality of slavery. Throughout his life he continued to work towardnding slavery as a writer, orator and statesman and the power of his presence was captured in a newly popular medium. Douglass was one of the most photographed americans of the 19th century. Welcome to books that shaped america. Our cspan series that looks at how books throughout our history have influenced who we are today. In partnership with the library of congress, this 10 week series has been exploring different eras, topics and viewpoints. Youre glad you are joining us through this walk through history. So far we have looked at the foundations of america through the eyes of Thomas Paynes common sense and the federalist papers, the expansion of america with the expedition of lewis and clark in the west and tonight the year is 1845 and the book is the narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. It is a book that had a major impact on the abolitionist cause. This evening, edna green medford historian, author and longtime professor at Howard University here in washington, d. C. Welcome back to cspan. Delighted to be here. The year is 1845. Six years before the start of the civil war. What was the country like . It was an interesting time to say the least. The country was becoming more divided even at that point even though we are quite a bit of distance away from the civil war. The country is divided and the reason is because slavery has either ended or is gradually ending. For the most part it has ended in 1840 five in the north but it has not in the south. It has gotten stronger in the south. The south is determined it is going to expand its holdings in slavery. It once the western territories and so abolitionism becomes even more militant. By 1825 18 between nine, you had david walker writing to the enslaved population saying rise up and slay your masters. In 1831 have net turner and his rebellion in southampton county, virginia. You have William Lloyd garrison, publishing the liberator at that time. And so things are heating up. So before this period, southerners agreed slavery was a necessary evil. They recognize it as people but it was a necessary evil. I the 1830s and by the time the book is published in 1845, they are calling slavery a positive good. The abolitionists are wishing that much harder against that kind of nonsense. Douglasss book exposes the hardships of slavery in a way no one had before. It is important to come from him because he is someone who has witnessed it firsthand. The narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass is published. What was its Immediate Impact at that time . Prof. Medford it was explosive. He was able to sell quite a few copies immediately by the time of the civil war in about 15 years. 30,000 copies had been sold. There were nine additions it had gone through. The north was all about it. The south was furious about it because they felt douglass had exaggerated what slavery was about. It showed white northerners what slavery really was. They could only imagine it because most of them had never seen slavery. They had never gone to the south. They had not witnessed the endless they were in place like southern ohio and they sell people trying to come across. But it showed once and for all the horrors of slavery, the separation of families, the race mixing, the rotella t of men and women and it was the kind of the brutality of men and women and it was a kind of thing northerners could not ignore. It was before Harriet Beecher stowes Uncle Toms Cabin. It is a way of introducing White Americans in the north to the horrors of slavery. It is as much about abolitionism , as much about supporting the abolitionist cause as it is about telling, about douglasss life. Was it available in the south . Prof. Medford prof. Medford if it was available and the south, no one would ever have admitted they had a copy. I that time, the south was not receptive to anyone talking negatively about slavery. By the 1830s, they had been able to pass a gag rule in congress preventing any more petitions from coming to congress because people were becoming very agitated about what was happening in the country. Slavery, they understood, was causing a problem. It would not have been something that would have been readily available in the south. I had no doubt people would have had copies but they wouldve done so clandestinely. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass was published on may 1 come 1845 by William Lloyd garrison. We will talk about him. 5000 copies sold within four months within a population of 20 million. That w aretty big printer run 30,000 pi sold by 1860. It was the first of his three autobiographies. Our partner in this endeavor, books that shaped america, is the library of congress. That is the organization that came up with the original 100 books that shaped america. We chose 10 from that. They have an original copy from 1845 of the narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. As it says there, written by himself. Library of congress describes it as one of the best written and most widely read narratives of a formerly enslaved person. A strong testament for the need to abolish slavery. How did he write it . Prof. Medford it is interesting. It seems what he is including, he had talked about in his lectures. I this time he had traveled all over the north having antislavery lectures and he talked about his life. Some of what is in the book is a repeat of what he had already talked about in those lectures. He is talking about his early life, what it meant to be a child enslaved on the Eastern Shore of maryland. He talked about what it was like to be in an urban environment versus a rural environment. He talked about the hypocrisy of christianity which is really fascinating in the book. One of the more interesting parts i think and the strongest arguments against slavery. He talked about separation. He talked about friendships and relationships that were forged during slavery. He talks about longing for freedom. He was the ideal person to write a book like this because he was so passionate about his desire to see everyone free. We have mentioned Talbot County, maryland, baltimore and their relationship geographically to washington, d. C. S birth name was Frederick Bailey. Why did he change his name . Prof. Medford his grandmothers name was bailey. She was betsy bailey. He was born Frederick Augustus washington bailey. He changed his name because when he went north, he wanted to make sure he could not be traced to where he had taken refuge. Because slaveholders went after their enslaved laborers when they ran away. When he got to new york, he realized he had already changed his name i think he was traveling under the name of stanley because he had siemens papers with the name stanley on it. He then later changed his name to johnson. When he got to new bedford, there were too many johnsons in the community and so things were rather confused so he changed it to douglass and he kept that name for the rest of his life. What was his life like in the first years in Talbot County . Prof. Medford as a child in Talbot County, he talked about not having to work hard for the first seven years of his life because he was a child he talks about the hunger. Always being hungry. He talks about being cold during epiece outfit should it was a just a long shirt. A course linen shirt that stopped at its knees. No trousers. He was so delighted when he found out he was going to baltimore because he would be able to wear pants. It is interesting that is what he is thinking about. Not whether or not he is going to escape the hard labor of being in a rural environment but it is like he is going as a grownup. He is now old enough to wear pants especially if he is going to an urban environment. He talks about not really connecting with his siblings because he did have others and sisters on the plantation where he finally was taken by his grandmother at the age of six or seven. But he had no real connection to them because he had not grown up with them. Slavery did not encourage any kind of strong feelings between parents and children or between mothers and sisters. And so he was quite a lonely fellow i think when he was in that rule environment that rural environment. He left and went to baltimore but when he came back as a teenager, he was able to make friendships. These were friendships that were extremely important to him. The men he worked with on the farm and the ones he worked with on the freeland farm as well, he really cared about what was to happen to those men. Here is a quote from the narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass talking about familial relationships. Five times in my life and each of those times was a short duration and at nightheould lie down with me and get me to slp t long before i woke, she was gone. Very little communication ever took place between us. Prof. Medford not at all uncommon. Especially in an environment that he was in. He was on a plantation where actually his owner was the superintendent of and the click of this larger plantation the clerk of this larger plantation. Colonel lloyd was the owner of the plantation and he had 10 separate farms and he had hundreds of enslaved people. His manager had his own 30 enslaved people. So douglass had to deal with that kind of environment. Large plantation but he is a part of a Smaller Group as well. Was not i did not get the see he was abused, at least not very much, when he wasti there, but even then he is recognizing he does not have the same kind of opportunities as the way children do. He is the way children do. He is witnessing horrific brutality. One of the things that stuck with him was the beating of his aunt. She is stripped to the waist and is beaten because she disobeys her owners orders that she is not to see this black man she is interested in so he beats her severely. Douglass as a child does not quite understand that at that time. He is just afraid he is going to be next. So it is not a nice environment to be in things get better when he goes to baltimore. Quote i have often been awake and at the dawn of day by the most heartrending shrieks of an aunt of mine who he used to tie up and w on her naked back until she was liyed with blood. No words, no tears, no prayers his iron heart from its bloody purpose. The louder she screamed, harder he whipped. When this book came out and those words were published, were people shocked by the brutality . Prof. Medford i think people understood those kind of things could have been in slavery the way he described it was so real that they could not ignore the brutality. Slaveholders had always argued everyone was benevolent, that the enslaved population got enough to eat, they were not abused, they were not worked too hard. None of that is true. There was a great deal of brutality and douglass wanted to make his audience understand that. I think some of the greatest kinds of the thing i remember the most about the book is those instances where he is talking about the brutality against black women. It is more than just beating them or raping them. It is humiliating them. Stripping them to the waist. Having them exposed to the world. It is a kind of dehumanization that even black men did not face and they faced enough. It was horrific for them as well that there was Something Different about the way they treated black women. I think douglass hit upon that. He understood how vile that was also how that would go over with the public. He understood there are certain things the public might be able to deal with if it is a man involved but if you are talking about a woman who has done nothing actually and to have her abused that way i think many people especially women understood what that must be like. You also mentioned the baltimore connection that Frederick Douglass was moved to baltimore one time. We traveled to baltimore to hear about that part of his childhood. Here is a urban Ranger Bradley austin. Welcome. My name is bradley austin. I am an urban ranger with the Baltimore National heritage area. We are here in fells point in baltimore, maryland. It was here in the spring of 1826 that a young enslaved africanamerican boy named Frederick Bailey, later to be called Frederick Douglass, landed to start his adventure in a new and a new chapter in his life he chronicles in his first autobiography. He landed on a ship similar to this. Other passengers on the ship with Young Frederick bailey was a herd of sheep sent to baltimore to the baltimore market. He had on his first pair of pants in his life at eight years old. Made specifically for the trip. This is the first town he saw, the first city he saw. After dropping off the sheep to the market, he was taken by a deckhand to meet the new family. The family he would live with on and off until he was in his 20s. Frederick douglass lived in a number of homes in fells point. His second home was in an area called the hook in fells point that juts out into the baltimore harbor. To put this into perspective, Frederick Douglass is now taking care of tommy. He is observing sophia the mother is teaching young tommy how to read. He asks sophia, the mistress, can she teach him and she said of course. She had no experience of being a slave owner or a slave master or what that entailed. She happily taught him along with tommy his abcs, small words and he made remarkable progress. After a couple weeks she shared with her husband what she was doing. He exploded. He said if you teach a n word how to read, you will ruin him forever as a slave. Frederick douglass later wrote in his autobiography this was the first antislavery lecture he experienced. And it gave him the motivation to learn and realized information is knowledge. In order to facilitate his learning, frederick then used a resource he had at hand. One of those was because of his place in the house and his loft near the kitchen, he had access to food, biscuits and warm bread. In that situation he was better off than some of the white immigrant boys that were his neighbors. He was able to barter bread for lessons from his white playmates. And a quote from Frederick Douglasss book. I set out with high hope and a fixed purpose that whatever cost of trouble would learn how to read. So was mrs. Alt a hero . Prof. Medford she certainly was to him. He admired her for the rest of his life. He talked about her fondly. She was trying to do the right thing. But he used her in another way. He used her as an example because he said after her husband told her she was wrong in teaching him, her whole demeanor changed toward him. And so he used that as an example of what slavery does to white people as well. So you can start out being someone who can be kind and gentle to a young child but eventually slavery corrupts you. Power corrupts you and you become someone who is not at all kind. And so i think he does eventually forgive her for that. He understands why it happens but he was always very fond of her. At what point did he equate learning to read with freedom . Prof. Medford i think when he saw the little white boys learning he felt he should be able to do it as well. When he bought the colombian orator, i think that is when he really started seeing the possibility for himself. Because he is reading the speeches from great men but he is also reading this dialogue between master and slave. He is picking up some things. That book becomes his Constant Companion for a number of years. And he learned so much from it. Not just how to use words, how to pull them altogether, what how to speak them. He becomes a great orator at least in part because he has been exposed to that book. You are watching cspans books that shaped america, our 10 week series looking at some of the important books in our history. These books are taken from a list created by the library of congress about 10 years ago. We have chosen tend to feature in this series. They are not necessarily the best sellers or the best written or anything like that but they are all books that had an impact at the time and on who we are today. As with most cspan life programs, this is an Interactive One and we want to hear from you. Tonight we are talking about the narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. Our guest is edna Greene Medford, longtime cspan friend, longtime professor at Howard University as well. This is how you can participate. 202 is the area code. If you cannot get through on the phone lines but would still like to ask a question or make a comment, 202 748 80003 is our text number. Please include your first name and your city if you would. Lets give you a snapshot of what the United States was like in 1845. James k polk was preside the population h gwn to about 20 million people. Population was about two and a half million. Eventually to rise close to 4 million before its abolishment. Several Million Immigrants were starting to come into the u. S. At tha