A 201 Year Old Birthday Celebration for Frederick Douglass

Recently I attended the 201 year-old Birthday celebration for Frederick Douglass at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.. Since Douglass was born a slave, there was no record of the date of his birth. He chose February 14 as his birthday. Today, this date is also Valentine’s Day. This event was sponsored by the Colored Conventions organization. Members of this group have made the documents of the Colored Conventions of Douglass’ era available to the public.

There were several highlights to this event. There was an inspiring performance of a Douglass speech to the Colored Convention. There were poems by young people who expressed what Douglass’ message means to them today. There was a breathtaking performance of a poem by Langston Hughes. We also had the opportunity to sit in groups and discuss the legacy of Frederick Douglass.

For me, someone who has read a bit about Douglass’ life, seeing the performance of his speech demonstrated the profound insight of Douglass 100 years ago. In order to appreciate this, we need to look at a bit of his background.

The life of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was born Frederick Bailey as a slave. At the age about 13 he literally risked his life to learn how to read. In the years when slavery was the law, slaves who learned how to read could be executed.

Then, Douglass risked his life again and managed, with the assistance of his future wife, to escape slavery. This is when he changed his name to Frederick Douglass. Eventually Douglass became one of the most prominent speakers of the abolitionist movement. He was so articulate, that many did not believe that he was once a slave.

So, Douglass risked his life again and wrote his autobiography. By writing this book Douglass acknowledged that he was an escaped slave and a fugitive who could be apprehended and returned to slavery.

So, in order to avoid arrest Douglass left his wife and travelled to Britain where he continued to agitate for the abolition of slavery. British supporters raised the funds that purchased Douglass’ freedom, and this enabled him to return to this country with a legal status.

Understanding this background, we see that Douglass never was exposed to any part of the educational system in this country. He, in fact, violated the law to learn how to read. Yet, in the opinion of many who listened to his speech, he was one of the most articulate and powerful speakers in the history of this country.

Douglass' speech to the Colored Convention and it's continued relevancy

The theme of Douglass’ speech was about the reason why Black people came together in the Colored Convention. In those years, some people argued that since the United States government was victorious in the Civil War, and had adopted the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments to the Constitution, there was no reason for Black people to have a convention.

Douglass argued that there is a difference between what the laws stated, and the actual practices of the government. Yes, the 14^th Amendment stated that there was supposed to be equal protection under the law. However, the Jim Crow laws enforced a legal system where Black people were discriminated against in every aspect of their lives. In fact, thousands of people, mostly African American, were lynched and the federal government made no attempt to apprehend the murderers.

Douglass continued to argue that the actions of the federal government in those years appeared to be as if white people had organized to discriminate and brutalize anyone who was not white. Understanding these facts, it was only logical that Black people would have a Colored Convention.

When we look at the history of this country, we see that Douglass’ speech continues to be relevant. In the 1950s the Supreme Court made their Brown v. Board of Education Topeka decision that reinforced the 14^th Amendment and argued that separate and segregated education is illegal. Then, in 1964 the Civil Rights movement forced the government to reinforce the 14^th Amendment with the Civil Rights Act declaring that Jim Crow segregation was illegal.

However, today on the Philadelphia side of City Line Avenue, the student population is overwhelmingly Black and Latino. On the other side of City Line Avenue, in the Lower Merion School District the student population is overwhelmingly Caucasian. The funding for education per student is twice as much in Lower Merion, as it is in Philadelphia.

I mentioned this in one of the discussion groups. Someone in our group countered that funding for education is based on real estate taxes. This is the argument that is routinely used in the mainstream press.

I countered with the fact that some of the most expensive real estate in the nation is located in downtown Philadelphia. Recently a new $1.6 billion dollar skyscraper owned by the Comcast Corporation was completed. Because of a Philadelphia tax abatement law, the owners of this building will not have to pay taxes for ten years. In my opinion, these facts underscore Douglass’ argument that while the law might say one thing, the practices of the government are oftentimes completely different.

Why Frederick Douglass continues to be relevant?

For me there is another aspect to the lessons I’ve derived from Douglass and well as from many who made outstanding contributions for the working people in this country. Today we are faced with enormous challenges. About 80% of the world’s population lives on $10 per day or less. One out of every six people in this country doesn’t have enough food to eat. War and poverty have been as much a part of the human experience as the wind and the rain. We can see that these problems are much deeper than the insidious policies of President Donald Trump.

Looking at all of this, and then thinking about the times when Frederick Douglass lived, made me feel empowered with the idea that, yes, humanity has the potential to deal with the enormous problems we face.

Frederick Douglass wasn’t the only leader who overcame unimaginable obstacles, to become a part of a movement that made real change. Douglass was a mentor to Ida Wells who dedicated her life to end the practice of lynching. Then, there were the labor leaders Eugene Debs and Mother Jones. Malcolm X dedicated his life to convincing people that we deserve to have better lives, and we have the potential to organize to make this happen. Today Mumia Abu Jamal and Leonard Peltier are two leaders who were framed up and have spent most of their lives in prison. Oscar Lopez Rivera is another leader who spent decades and prison, but was recently released.

While these conditions exist, we can also look to the nation of Cuba that has withstood numerous efforts by the most powerful nation in the world to compromise the interests of the Cuban people. We can also think about the fact that while thousands of people were being lynched in the late 19^th century in this country, Cuba experienced a completely different reality.

Antonio Maceo was a Black Cuban Major General of the armed forces fighting for independence from Spain. During the same years as the lynchings in this country, Maceo’s armed forces went on a march of about 800 miles defeating the Spanish in every confrontation. While we don’t learn about these facts in school, every Cuban child learns about Antonio Maceo and his revolutionary family in every Cuban school.  

This is our heritage. Understanding the enormous challenges that have been overcome in the past, gives me a real feeling that working people today have the potential to overcome our many obstacles, and make this a world where human needs are more important than profits.