Facing Frederick-Tanya Bolden Gives Us Frederick Douglass

Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man

 by Tonya Bolden (Harry N. Abrams, January 9, 2018)

     Young people need to know Frederick Douglass. In fact all of us do.[†]In her well-written biography of Frederick Douglass, Tonya Bolden gives us a strong sense of Douglass as a person and a clear message about his importance to the world.

     So here are two choices Ms. Bolden makes that I like. First of all she grounds the biography in photos. In fact she starts the entire book off with a discussion of the nineteenth century technology used for photography and Frederick’s appreciation of that technology. Douglass loved photography and so we have many photographic images of him. Ms. Bolden includes photos in the text. In Facing Fredrick we can literally see Douglass aging.

      I love the image she places at the end of the book. Frederick sits in his study, back to us. We see his old roll desk, his violin leaning on the right side of the desk, and one stack of books that goes to the ceiling. The books tower over the human figure. Douglass appears to be writing. We do not see his face, but we do see his mane of white hair. Douglass the intellectual and writer. I also love that powerful stare in the 1863 photo on p. 93. The posture and look speak to an individual of great power.

     The second choice. Bolden starts the book by dropping the needle on Douglass’ life at a well-chosen moment. He is about to deliver a first speech beyond his home of New Bedford, Massachusetts, in Nantucket, the speech that launches him into the world. In a short, bold sentence that is typical of her writing, Ms. Bolden suggests the power and significance of that talk: “With his entrancing baritone voice, he soared” (Bolden, p. 4). We are early introduced to Frederick Douglass’ career as an itinerant orator, the foundation for his activist life. And then Bolden quickly moves the needle back to present a sketch of Frederick’s New Bedford life, his struggles, and his first speaking out. That time travel gives us a view of Douglass as a person and we start to see why we should care so much about this man. To be clear, it is how Bolden moves us through time that I like. That shifting allows for an engaging narrative structure that Bolden makes easy to follow.

      Early on in the text we are introduced to Douglass’ language and the way he uses words. So he reads the Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison’s abolitionist newspaper. Frederick then proclaims, “My soul was set on fire.” He goes on, “Its sympathy for my brethren in bonds—its scathing denunciation of slaveholders—its faithful exposures of slavery...sent a thrill of joy throughout my soul, such as I had never felt before” (on page 3 and from p. 117 of his Narrative). Through those statements Douglass’ impassioned views on slavery are made clear early in the text. I love reading his words.

     And so from the start, Bolden smoothly introduces us to Frederick Douglass the writer. There are his words and there is his storytelling. Bolden conveys that latter ability through a discussion of his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

     And from hearing about the Narrative, we glean some sense of Frederick’s early life as a child and as a slave in Maryland. As part of that story, the reader discovers how a “Baltimore mistress” teaches Douglass to read and how “white pals” in the neighborhood continue his education. And then at thirteen Mr. Douglass comes upon the book The Columbian Orator from which he obtains his first lessons on speaking. Douglass is educated on the streets and, through his own initiative, he creates that life of the mind he lived.

     All of this and we have only gotten through chapter one.

     This is a beautiful way to lay out the life of Frederick Douglass, sharing early his gifts as a speaker and writer while integrating a discussion of his early life. Biography does not need to start, “And she was born.”

     In chapter two Ms. Bolden takes us through the publishing of Mr. Douglass’ first autobiography and then his tour of the British Isles where he becomes known internationally as a speaker, a writer, and an abolitionist. Frederick Douglass was something of a rock star, touring and performing through the speeches he gave while selling merch, his Narrative, along the way.

    And slowly we come to know Frederick Douglass as a person. In one brief paragraph about the international tour, we find out that he experiences “fits of melancholy.” He cures himself by buying a violin and playing a Scottish jig. As Douglass tells a friend in a letter, “They say music is good for insane people” (Bolden, 26-27; from Letter in Douglass Papers, 125).

     It is not until chapter three that we learn about his wife Anna, his children, and his escape from slavery. We also learn that Douglass felt troubled because of the time spent away from his family. Bolden mentions this, but she does not dwell on it. Bolden also does not linger on possible tensions in the marriage between Frederick and Anna. Instead, we get to see how Anna played an important role in Frederick’s life.

     As we are drawn into Douglass’ life, we are also made aware of what is happening throughout the country. We learn about some of those events one might study in a history class, the Compromise of 1850, John Brown, the abolition movement, and finally, the Civil War. Frequently in school these topics are taught as disparate facts. In the pages of this book, those topics take on meaning because we see them in the context of Frederick Douglass’ world.

     Bolden also tells us about Mr. Douglass’ involvement with the women’s movement. He attends the Seneca Falls meeting and even speaks, calling for the vote. Later she recounts Douglass’ sometimes bitter fight with members of the women’s movement over the Fifteenth Amendment. She shares the racist language Elizabeth Cady Stanton uses due to her anger over blacks gaining the right to vote first. If we want students to face reality and engage in critical discourse with the history they encounter, we need this dirty laundry. (We also need such honesty when we study the slave owners who helped found the country.)

      Two minor quibbles. I find the discussion of Frederick Douglass’ later years a bit disappointing. Becoming more establishment, obtaining government positions through his involvement with the Republican Party, Douglass shifts. What should we make of this? I am not certain.

     I like the use of quotes, but sometimes quotes that are bolded on pages do not go along with the text on the page. That is distracting.

     So as a former social studies teacher, I can’t help but think of using this book in a class. This is a book that would lend itself to critical discussion in a social studies classroom. Here is a great sentence that would invoke a rich conversation: “The man who as a boy once had a closet floor for a bed had an audience with—had been listened to by—the president of the United States—and in the White House!” (Bolden, 105) The sentence is a reference to a meeting Mr. Douglass had with President Lincoln where Douglass presented concerns about unequal treatment blacks experienced in the military.

     The readership for Facing Frederick is defined as grades 5-9. I am glad someone has written such a compelling book about Frederick Douglass for middle-level students. That age group, in particular, needs exposure to intellectuals, people who read, people who live by language, and people who generates ideas. I also like that students this age are introduced to an activist, especially one who takes what he thinks and puts those ideas into action. If the young see this behavior modeled by such a powerful figure, perhaps they will take that behavior into their own lives, including lessons about doing good in the world.

     Again, adults would also find richness in this biography.

     There is one more reason for young people to know Fredrick Douglass. He is a founder of this nation and we need to see him standing next to people like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, though Douglass himself might not be comfortable being so close to people who enslaved others. Jefferson’s hypocrisy left American democracy unfinished and tarnished. People like Frederick Douglass needed to re-define and re-shape our American democracy.

     Overall, this is a great book because it is about an important figure and Ms. Bolden leads us beautifully through the narrative. I found myself engaged in the story of Douglass’ life. So read Facing Frederick and learn about an amazing man.

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[†] (David Blight has written a magisterial biography of Douglass for adults. I am through the end of the Civil War in my reading. The reader comes to know Frederick Douglass through Blight’s methodical research and beautiful writing.)