"Agitate, Agitate, Agitate!"

 

Painting of  Frederick Douglas which hangs at Cedar Hill (Source: NPS)

 

Today, we talked about Frederick Douglass. The kids will tell you I loves me my Frederick Douglass! He is, for me, an epitome of an what I think of as quintessentially American. I love Madison for his ability to craft a government and Lincoln for his ability to steer that government  to reunion, but I love Douglass for his fearless reminder of the great good and great harm government can do for and to its people.

I had the chance to spend a couple days at Cedar Hill, his Victorian home just north of DC this summer and took a video of an actor re-enacting a portion of one of Douglass' speech. The actor, Kevin McIlvaine, has a YouTube site with better quality versions of his work here. I asked for his permission to post this last summer and he graciously said yes. The video above was supposed to be a portion of the Douglass' What to a Slave is the Fourth of July, unfortunately technology is not playing nicely in my sandbox so, for now, here is a video of Mr. McIlvaine's recitation of Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

Below are two sites, one for Cedar Hill and one a transcript of the excerpted speech you'll eventually hear on the video. Imagine hearing this speech in 1852 by a former slave on the day after our nation's 76th anniversary.

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site

What to a Slave is the Fourth of July

BTW-If you don't know the reference to the title, google it! For me, that story is the essence of Frederick Douglas.

Cane given to Frederick Douglass by Mary Todd Lincoln. It was one of the president's. (Source: NPS)

How long do you let kids 'marinate' in an uncomfortable discussion?

The remainder of the morning at the the Douglass house was spent with an actor who travels the country as Frederick Douglass. I will download the video later, but here is a clip of him at the Field Museum in Chicago:

He read a portion of Douglass' "Fourth of July Speech" and it was fascinating to hear his words spoken out loud in the manner Douglass would have delivered them.

The afternoon was spent discussing the discomfort we sometimes have as teachers in discussing slavery with our students. Do we give them our opinions? Do we challenge theirs? Do we let them 'marinate' with the idea of 'ideal versus reality' or do we search for a resolution quickly. The folks I'm here with are impressive. The discussion was both frank and respectful. I walked away with a challenged perspective as to how to approach the topic with my students.

The final portion of our time at the Douglass house was spent talking about the fortification of Washington DC. By the end of the war, DC was the most heavily fortified city in the world. A series of 20-some small forts circle the capitol.

(Source LOC)

(Source LOC)

The photo above is Fort Stevens, and is a atypical. Most were eathen mounds which, after the war, went away. We traveled to one of these at Fort Dupont Park. The fort is a series of mounds and a moat. Without a park ranger showing us, I wouldn't have noticed it. Fort Stevens is the only of these posts which saw action. In July 1864, forces under the leadership of Confederate General Jubal Early  attack the fort in an attempt to divide US Grant's attention. Lincoln rode out the fort and, while observing, is chided to get out of the line of fire by an irritated officer. Lincoln complied.

Tonight is the a tour of the US Capitol and a walk back to the Willard.

When memories aren't allowed--let the house speak for you

At Fredrick Douglass' home this morning. Excellent discussion on Douglass and John Brown--non-violence v. violence.
Home tour was excellent. The park ranger, Braden, really honed his conversation to us and the idea of Civil War Washington. The title comes from something he said. At Douglass' death in 1895, there was division as to how to remember him under Jim Crow. He wasn't allowed to a state funeral. Alot of people just wanted to forget his legacy. His wife decided to let his house be the memorial. And it is better than a monument-it captures him in real time: meeting visitors, having his hair braided by his grandchildren, dining with the leaders of the day and the daily routine. If you look in one direction on his porch, you can seen Maryland-where he starts life as a slave. In the other direction, from the top of this hill, you can see the Washington Monument and the Capitol, symbols of a world he helped create.