FREDERICK DOUGLASS Autograph

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FREDERICK "BLACK LION" DOUGLASS - AUTOGRAPH POEM SIGNED CIRCA 1840 - DOCUMENT 149173

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FREDERICK BLACK LION DOUGLASS - AUTOGRAPH POEM SIGNED CIRCA 1840

FREDERICK DOUGLASS
"The Black Lion," who often wrote verses to well-wishers, handwrote and signed this very rare poem on his beginnings as a slave and his resolve to abolish slavery (framed in the Gallery of History style to 36x24).
Autograph Poem signed: "Frederick Douglass", 1 page, 6x4¾. In full: "I was born a Slave,/And had to obey a master's command./And finding no arm to save,/In all this Christian land,/So I resolved to run away/And thus get rid of Slavery." Frederick Douglas, who would often write verse to well-wishers, wrote and signed this poem on an album leaf. Within it, he made reference to "this Christian land," a phrase he no doubt recalled vividly from his first appearance before the Massachusetts anti-Slavery Society in 1841. No sooner had the former slave finished his thundering denunciation of bondage to the stunned crowd than renowned abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) jumped to his feet and cried, "Shall such a man be held a slave in a Christian land?" Fortunately for America, the answer was no. Douglass' poem implicitly criticized the contradictions between the humanitarian tenets of Christianity and the brutal realities of slavery. He despised the hypocrisy of Northern Christians who refused to support abolition, and who later supported legal segregation. Southerners who twisted the Gospel to suit their own purposes also drew his ire. Southern interpretations of scripture during the antebellum years often equated service to the master with service to God and urged slaves to accept punishment without resistance. For the Black Lion, however, resistance proved to be a way of life. Douglass had escaped from his strict master, Thomas Auld, in 1838. His perilous journey led him first to New York, then to Massachusetts, where the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society hired him as a speaker and representative immediately following his first speech. While Garrison helped him to develop his natural oratory skills, Douglass also apprenticed in the printing trade and published several abolitionist newspapers, notably the "North Star", which became "Frederick Douglass's Paper" in 1851. During the Civil War (1861-1865), Douglass played a key role in convincing President Lincoln to draft the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863. Douglass became the first Black to hold high-ranking government positions when he was appointed Marshal of the District of Columbia (1877-1881) and Recorder of Deeds (1881-1886). He subsequently served as U.S. Minister to Haiti (1889-1891). Upon returning to the U.S., Douglass entered a period of semi-retirement which he described as his "golden years" - a time to travel and speak, a time to renew family ties, a time to return to his ideals. Without doubt, Douglass truly believed in freedom, equality, and justice for all people. Lightly creased. Slightly soiled. Overall, fine condition. Framed in Gallery of History style: 34¾x23½.

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