The Fisk Jubilee Singers

by Kiersti Giron

The Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1882. By Prints & Photographs Department, MSRC - Deep Roots Magazine, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29810516

Have you heard the songs “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” or “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord” or “Let Us Break Bread Together on Our Knees”? Most Americans have, whatever our ethnic or faith background. These songs are all traditional African-American “spirituals,” but many white people didn't used to consider them a valid musical genre at all, and in fact this music was almost completely unknown outside of the former slave community. We know these beautiful songs today in large part thanks to a remarkable group of young people known as the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

In 1865, just after the end of the American Civil War, millions of recently freed slaves had been thrust into a new life—but not an easy one. They were desperately hungry for education, as even reading and writing had so long been denied them, and flocked to the new schools set up for the “freedmen.” One such school was Fisk School in Nashville, Tennessee, first held in an abandoned Union Army camp and incorporated in 1867 as Fisk University, still an important institution today. The school opened its doors in January, 1866, and in its first year the average DAILY attendance numbered about one thousand students! The 1880 book The Story of the Jubilee Singers recalls how grandfathers studied side by side with their grandchildren, and elderly women sometimes mastered the alphabet in less than a week. Before long, however, other elementary schools opened and allowed Fisk University to focus more on its original goal, emphasizing higher education.

Jubilee Hall at Fisk University, built by funds raised by the original Jubilee Singers.
By Editor - Lawson Andrew Scruggs - https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Women_of_distinction.djvu/186, Public Domain

By 1871, though, the school was in dire financial straits, in danger of closing its doors. Recently enslaved families struggled to pay the tuition for their children, and all freedmen’s schools faced immense prejudice and opposition in the South. At one point, the students and faculty actually dug up handcuffs and chains from a former slave pen and sold them as scrap iron to raise money for the school.

But George L. White, the school’s treasurer and music professor, had an idea. He had been blown away by the quality of his students’ formerly untrained voices and loved helping them refine their musical abilities. Though they worked together on such choral numbers as the cantata Esther, White had been deeply touched by the “cabin songs” the students had grown up singing, songs formerly unknown outside of slave communities and cotton fields. White decided these young people's voices—and their music—needed to be shared with the world. And perhaps, even held the key to saving the school.
 

The original nine Jubilee Singers, 1871. By Black, James Wallace, 1825-1896, photographer;
American Missionary Association. - Library of CongressCatalog: Public Domain.

Taking with them the entire contents of the Fisk treasury, on October 6, 1871, nine young men and women—all students at Fisk, several still in their teens, and all but two former slaves—set off with Mr. White and the ambitious goal of raising $20,000 for their school. The students numbered four young men and five young women: Minnie Tate, Greene Evans, Isaac Dickerson, Jennie Jackson, Maggie Porter, Ella Sheppard, Thomas Rutling, Benjamin Holmes, and Eliza Walker. At first, the singers often met with prejudice and outright hostility, as hotels frequently refused to let them stay because of their color. Even when welcomed, collections at their performances remained meager. They raised about $50 at a concert in Cincinnati, but that same weekend occurred the devastation of the great Chicago Fire. The singers decided to donate the entire proceeds of their first true paid concert to the relief efforts for fire victims.

Through prejudice and hardship, usually depending on the slim proceeds from one concert to fund their food and lodging for the next day, this little vocal group persevered. When they reached Columbus, Ohio, the singers were physically and emotionally drained. In hopes of lifting everyone’s spirits, Mr. White decided to name them the Jubilee Singers, taken from the year of Jubilee and freedom in the book of Leviticus. 

Ella Shepherd, Pianist and Assistant Director of the original Jubilee Singers.
By Unknown - Fisk University Library, Special Collections, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68331306

Gradually, that promise of hope began to be fulfilled. When the Jubilee Singers performed for the congregation of Henry Ward Beecher (brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe), he urged his wealthy parishioners to dig deep and give generously, and they did so. A corner had been turned, and concerts of the Jubilee Singers began to sell out. Prejudices gradually lowered, as audiences’ hearts were won both by the beautiful voices of the students and the uniquely moving power of their songs. Soon they were able to pay their way and start sending money back to Fisk. As the popularity of their music rose, they even sold sheet music for their songs at the concerts. In 1872, the Jubilee Singers sang at the White House at the invitation of President Grant, and in 1873, they embarked on a European tour, performing for royalty and raising enough funds to build Jubilee Hall, the first permanent building at Fisk University. During this tour, the singers sang for Queen Victoria, who commissioned a large portrait of the group that still hangs in Jubilee Hall.

Sheet Music for "Come, Let Us All Go Down," By Jubilee Singers
(Emory University, Robert W. Woodruff Library) - The story of the Jubilee Singers
 with their songs, published 1880. Available on Internet Archive, Public Domain

While the exhausted group disbanded in 1878, in 1879 a new version of the Jubilee Singers re-formed, and this remarkable choral ensemble still continues on today. The Jubilee Singers retains its original focus on traditional African American spirituals and acapella music and continues to perform and receive acclaim around the world. But each year, on October 6, “Jubilee Day”—the anniversary of that first little group of musical students setting off on their tour by faith—the present-day Jubilee Singers make a pilgrimage to the burial sites of the original singers and sing the old songs in honor of those faithful nine.

2012 - 2013 Fisk Jubilee Singers Ensemble, By Bill Steber
- Photosubmissions 2013111910012728, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30155292

Have you ever heard of the Fisk Jubilee Singers? What touched or surprised you most about their story? Please comment and share! 






Kiersti Giron holds a life-long passion for history and historical fiction. She loves to write stories that show the intersection of past and present, explore relationships that bridge cultural divides, and probe the healing Jesus can bring out of brokenness. Kiersti has been published in several magazine and won the 2013 and 2018 Genesis Awards – Historical for her novels Beneath a Turquoise Sky and Fire in My Heart. An English teacher and member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Kiersti loves learning and growing with other writers penning God's story into theirs, as well as connecting with readers at www.kierstigiron.com. She lives in California with her husband, Anthony, their two kitties, and their baby boy.

Honoring African-American Schoolteachers

By Kiersti Giron

It’s February—a month not only for celebrating love and Valentine’s Day, but for honoring a sphere of American history, people, and events that have often been overlooked in this land: African-American history. While I am still an early learner, I continue to be amazed at how many American heroes and sides of history are new to me. As a schoolteacher myself, I was fascinated to start learning a bit of the unique history of African-American schoolteachers when researching one of my historical novels. I thought I’d share a few tidbits with you today; this post will only touch the surface, but hopefully we will all be inspired to learn more!

Fanny Jackson Coppin, first African-American female school principal (Institute for Colored Youth, Philadelphia). Reminiscences of School Life, and Hints on Teaching, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.

Myrtilla Miner and the Normal School for Colored Girls

Myrtilla Miner, founder of the Normal School for Colored Girls
By Unknown - dc.gov, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

My interest in this topic was first piqued when I learned about Miss Miner and her school. In the days of American slavery, it was illegal to teach slave children to read or write, as Miss Myrtilla Miner discovered when she came from New York to teach the children of plantation owners in Mississippi in the 1840s. When she wasn’t allowed to start classes for black girls down south, she came back home determined to start a school. Despite much opposition, her Normal (teaching) School for Colored Girls opened in 1851 in Washington D.C., partly thanks to support from Rev. Henry Beecher and his cousin Harriet Beecher Stowe, who donated $1000 of the proceeds of Uncle Tom’s Cabin to starting the school.

While the school covered a broad range of subjects, from the beginning Miss Miner’s focus was on training African-American girls to become teachers themselves. By 1858, six of her students were already successful teachers in their own schools. The school faced much persecution and had to move multiple times because of it, but under various names such as Miner Normal School, the Institute for the Education of Colored Youth, and a merge with the District of Colombia Teacher’s College, it remained the primary training ground for African-American elementary schoolteachers in D.C. up through World War II. Eventually the school was incorporated with others to form the University of the District of Colombia in 1976. Of course, many other fine schools sprang up to train African-American teachers as well, as you can see in these photos.

Scotia Women's College teachers and students 1913, Presbyterian Church in the USA
By Internet Archive Book Images - https://www.flickr.com/photos, No restrictions

Between the Civil War and Civil Rights

Schools for freedmen (former slaves) and their children proliferated in the decades between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights movement, but their dedicated African-American teachers consistently suffered from the effects of a racist system and society. Pay rates were always lower than that of white teachers, while school supplies came scant and of low-quality. Teachers could even be dismissed for belonging to the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and the National Education Association would not allow black teachers to be members.

African-American teacher prepares for promotional examination, 1938.
By New York Public Library, https://www.flickr.com/photos/nypl/3110130614/
No restrictions.

Teacher Viola Duval Stewart did challenge the unequal pay for black and white teachers in Charleston in the 1940s, and with aid from Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP, won. However, widespread inequality continued. Despite all obstacles, these courageous teachers persevered in making a difference in the lives of children. And make a difference they did, encouraging their dreams, affirming and fostering their value, curiosity, and intellect, just as teachers do all through the country and the world.

After Brown vs. Board of Education

Ironically, after the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that school segregation was unconstitutional, the number of African-American teachers actually went down. While black and white children now had to be integrated in schools, that meant most mainstream schools were governed by white authorities and influenced by white parents, many of whom were tragically reluctant to have black teachers for their children. In fact, of the 82,000 African-American teachers in American at the time of desegregation, 38,000 black teachers and administrators lost their jobs over the next eleven years, mostly due to the closing of all-black schools and the reluctance of other schools to hire them, even with sterling credentials. We still see the effects of this in our schools today.

Mrs. Sarah E.C. Dudley Pettey, Teacher and Treasurer
 of the Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of A.M. Zion Church.
By Publisher: M.V. Lynk Publishing House
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-7557-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99, Public Domain.

In my fourth year of teaching myself, I appreciate more and more all the sacrifice and giving of teachers to young people everywhere. I’m humbled and inspired by all these teachers we’ve learned about today who have had to overcome so much more than the usual obstacles, yet persevered for the sake of their students and the generations to come. And I’m grateful for all the African-American teachers today who inspire me, but most of all their students!

Do you know much about the history of African-American schoolteachers? Any facts or tidbits you can add to our conversation today? What about a teacher who impacted your life? Please comment and share!

Kiersti Giron holds a life-long passion for history and historical fiction. She loves to write stories that show the intersection of past and present, explore relationships that bridge cultural divides, and probe the healing Jesus can bring out of brokenness. Kiersti has been published in several magazine and won the 2013 and 2018 Genesis Awards – Historical for her novels Beneath a Turquoise Sky and Fire in My Heart. An English teacher and member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Kiersti loves learning and growing with other writers penning God's story into theirs, as well as blogging at www.kierstigiron.com. She lives in California with her wonderful husband, Anthony, and their two kitties.

Black Soldiers in the Civil War

By Michelle Shocklee

When we think of the Civil War, many images come to mind. Men in blue and gray uniforms. Canons firing. Smoke filling battlefields. Perhaps those images are from a movie you've seen or from your own imagination as you read historical novels and history books. Names like Grant, Lee, and Sherman are as well known as the battles that took place at Gettysburg and Bull Run.

There was, however, another group of soldiers that, quite honestly, don't always come to mind when I think of the Civil War. They are the black soldiers that fought in many bloody battles. It is estimated that by the end of the war, nearly 200,000 black men served in the Union Army and Navy.  Nearly 40,000 black men died over the course of the war, many from disease.

Black soldiers served in artillery and infantry and performed all noncombat support functions. They were carpenters, chaplains, cooks, guards, laborers, nurses, scouts, spies, steamboat pilots, surgeons, and teamsters. Nearly 80 black men were commissioned officers, and although black women could not formally join the Army, many served as nurses, spies, and scouts, the most famous being Harriet Tubman who scouted for the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers. Although there are reports of black men aiding the Confederacy, they were not officially allowed to take up arms in the Confederate Army.

Joining the army, however, wasn't an easy task for black men wanting to serve. At first, they were banned from bearing arms for the U.S. Army, due to a law dating back to 1792. It is said that President Lincoln wrestled with the decision, fearing more states would secede from the Union if he allowed black men to serve in the Army. By mid-1862, however, the escalating number of former slaves (contrabands), the declining number of white volunteers, and the increasingly pressing personnel needs of the Union Army pushed the Government into reconsidering the ban. After the Union Army turned back Lee's first invasion of the North at Antietam, MD, and the Emancipation Proclamation was subsequently announced, black recruitment was pursued in earnest.

As I dug into the research for my new release, The Widow of Rose Hill, I knew I wanted a black soldier to accompany Colonel Levi Maish to Texas. It was important to the story that a black man who had never been enslaved participate in the freeing of nearly 250,000 slaves who, despite the war coming to an end, did not know they were free. So I took a bit of artistic license and created the character of Corporal William Banks, aide to Colonel Maish. While there are no records that I found in my research about a black soldier serving in that capacity, I also didn't find enough evidence to declare it impossible. (The picture to the left is exactly how I envisioned Banks!)

During the Battle of Nashville in December 1864, black soldiers fought alongside white Union troops, where they were credited with helping to ensure victory by repelling the Confederate charge on Overton Hill. Black infantrymen also fought gallantly at Milliken's Bend, LA; Port Hudson, LA; and Petersburg, VA. One of the most famous black regiments was the 54th Massachusetts Infantry that participated in the heroic, but ill-fated, assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina. Leading the direct assault under heavy fire, the 54th suffered enormous casualties before being forced to withdraw. The courage and sacrifice of the 54th helped to dispel doubt within the Union Army about the fighting ability of black soldiers and earned this regiment undying battlefield glory. The 1989 film "Glory" tells the story of the 54th.

Although I'm a little late in celebrating Black History Month, I'd still like to take this time to remember the black men and women who served our country in more ways than we will probably ever know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michelle Shocklee is the award-winning author of The Planter's Daughter and The Widow of Rose Hill, the first two books in the historical romance series, The Women of Rose Hill. Her historical novella set in the New Mexico Territory is included in The Mail-Order Brides Collection. Michelle and her husband of 30+ years make their home in Tennessee. Connect with her at www.MichelleShocklee.com.

THE WIDOW OF ROSE HILL

Widowed during the war, Natalie Ellis finds herself solely responsible for Rose Hill plantation. When Union troops arrive with a proclamation freeing the slaves, all seems lost. How can she run the plantation without slaves? In order to save her son’s inheritance she strikes a deal with the arrogant, albeit handsome, Colonel Maish. In exchange for use of her family’s property, the army will provide workers to bring in her cotton crop. But as her admiration for the colonel grows, a shocking secret is uncovered. Can she trust him with her heart and her young, fatherless son?

https://www.amazon.com/Widow-Rose-Hill-Women-Book-ebook/dp/B078CN65FH/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Black History Month: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II

"...The Tuskegee Airmen are to military aviation what Jackie Robinson is to major league baseball. It is surprising that many Americans, both young and old, have not heard of them."
- Military.com

The hard-scrabble Depression years were aviation’s glamour era. A public desperate for relief from day-to-day woes hung on the exploits of aviation pioneers such as Amelia Earhardt, Howard Hughes, Eddie Rickenbacker and Jimmy Doolittle.

But for young men with the wrong skin color, the dream of a career in aviation dangled beyond reach. A 1925 Army War College study concluded that “African-Americans were inherently ill-suited for combat physically and psychologically,” so black pilots were not accepted in the U.S. military. The picture was little better for those who wished to pursue commercial aviation.

Overcomers

Charles Anderson could find no flight instructor willing to take him. He was so determined to fly he bought his own plane and taught himself to take off and land. Impressed by his grit, German-born Ernest Buehl agreed to work with him in 1929.

Buehl recalled the battle Anderson faced. “When the government agent came [to license Anderson], he took me aside and called me everything under the sun because I would even attempt to get that man into an airplane. I finally told him, ‘I’m a foreigner. I’m a citizen by the paper. That guy’s born here.’” Charles became the first black American to receive his pilot's license and worked as a flight instructor through the 1930s.

Harold Brown grew up in rural Michigan, the son of a logger. Harold “had a love affair with an airplane. What caused it, I have no idea. It was almost as if I was born to fly.” 

As a sixteen-year-old, Harold scraped together $35 for flying lessons. But he was painfully aware that a dramatic shift in attitude was needed before he could fulfill his dream. “I said, ‘By the time I'm ready, everything will change.’”

Winds of Change

In 1939 the winds of change began to blow. Congress ordered the Air Corps to accept blacks into its Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). Dozens of black men successfully completed the program.

But the Army Air Corps wasn’t interested in offering them slots. Pressure from civil rights leaders mounted. President Roosevelt made campaign promises. Historic Tuskegee Institute, a private black college founded by Dr. Booker T. Washington which had run a successful CPTP, was selected to host a new program. The effort, nicknamed the “Tuskegee Experiment,” had a stated goal to determine whether black men could succeed as military aviators. Many believed the true goal was to prove they could not.

The Airman and Mrs. Roosevelt: "You Can Fly All Right" 

 The program got a P.R. “lift” when Eleanor Roosevelt visited the Tuskegee campus in March, 1941. Charles Anderson, the black pilot who had taught himself to fly, now served as head of flight training for the program. Much to the secret service’s chagrin, Eleanor agreed to a half-hour flight with Anderson.

Eleanor Roosevelt after her flight with Charles Anderson: “Well, you can fly all right.”

The photo op gained widespread visibility, and the First Lady leveraged personal connections to raise $175,000 to help complete building projects at the airfield. When Harold Brown graduated from high school in June 1942, the Tuskegee program awaited him.

Many Hurdles

Charles McGee grew up a preacher’s kid in the Midwest. Charles’ father, an AME pastor, instilled in him a belief that all people stand as brothers and sisters before God, regardless of skin color. An outstanding student, Charles enrolled in R.O.T.C. at the University of Illinois and participated in the Pershing Rifles, an elite drill team. He was accepted into the Tuskegee program.

The discrimination Charles had experienced growing up did not prepare him for life in the South. 

“As the train left Southern Illinois, you had to change your location in the car.... You could feel the change in atmosphere....”

- Charles McGee

The segregation extended to the air base. 

“Everything [on base] was black or white. They wouldn't let black officers in the white officers' club.... We went to the movie theater and they had a sign up that said, 'Blacks in the back.’” 

- Tuskegee Airman Roscoe Brown

After the men graduated, the Army’s strict segregation dictated that black officers could not serve over white enlisted men. Qualified black pilots could not receive their commissions until a companion program in Illinois produced black crews and a full complement of mechanics and supporting staff. Army policy also restricted black officers to assignments in “predominately black nations.” But the need was great enough that 355 graduates of the Tuskegee program saw combat over Italy and Germany anyway.

Tuskegee Airmen in Italy

The Tuskegee Airmen's Legacy

“They have a saying that excellence is the antidote to prejudice; so, once you show you can do it, some of the barriers will come down.”

- Roscoe Brown

The group’s record proved exemplary. They flew over 1500 missions, losing only 27 bombers they escorted, as compared with an average of 46 for other units. 

Eighty-four Tuskegee Airmen lost their lives. Thirty-two were captured. Harold Brown was one of them. CBN has produced a fascinating video clip in which Brown credits God with intervening twice to save his life after his plane went down in Germany. 

“You realize somebody, somebody had to be looking out for you; somebody had to be taking care of you. And there’s only somebody in the world who I know is capable of doing that—God.” 

- Harold Brown

Charles McGee continued to serve in Korea and Viet Nam, racking up a whopping 409 combat missions. In 2011 Colonel McGee was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Those fortunate enough to know him laud him as “an American patriot who kept the faith,” and “a man of God who loves his family.”

P-51 Mustang restored with the iconic "Red Tail Squadron" markings, as flown by Charles McGee and the Tuskegee Airmen in Europe (By Max Haynes, Max2Air.com) 

“Blacks have fought in every war going back to the Revolutionary War. Each time we did that, we thought that if we defended the country and did it with dignity and excellence, the broader community would end segregation. After World War II, that finally happened when in 1948, President Truman signed executive order 9981 eliminating segregation in the armed forces.”

- Roscoe Brown

The outstanding service the Tuskegee Airmen rendered—in spite of every obstacle—was instrumental in bringing our nation a step closer to the Biblical truth McGee’s father taught him. 

God is no respecter of race. All who kneel before the Cross do so at the same level.

I stepped away from a marketing career that spanned continents to write what I love: stories of reckless faith that showcase God's hand in history. I'm so excited to see my debut novel, The Plum Blooms in Winter, launch this October from Mountain Brook Ink! Inspired by a remarkable true story from World War II's pivotal Doolittle Raid, The Plum Blooms in Winter is an American Christian Fiction Writers' Genesis Contest winner. The novel follows a captured American pilot and a bereaved Japanese prostitute who targets him for ritual revenge. For updates and related goodies, you're invited to subscribe to my newsletter HERE.

I live outside Phoenix with my husband, a third-generation airline pilot who doubles as my Chief Military Research Officer. We share our home with two all-grown-up kids and a small platoon of housecats.

Frederick Douglass: American Slave, Orator, Abolitionist, and Statesman

Frederick Douglass, National Portrait Gallery, 
Smithsonian Institution

When I first read the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, I was struck by Douglass’s incredible self-motivation and gift with language and oratory. Then, when I had the opportunity to visit the home of Frederick Douglass, now a national historic site, in Washington D.C. a year or two later, I became even more fascinated with this remarkable man.

Frederick Douglass was born in 1818, son of a slave woman and a white man, most likely his master, though he was never sure. As a child in slavery he witnessed incredible cruelty, though he also had a kind mistress for a few years as an older child, and he taught himself to read during this period with a bit of help from her. He later wrote, though, of how he eventually saw even her gentle character corrupted by the insidious power of slave-holding.

Douglass educated himself, reading all he could get his hands on and absorbing much of his later oratorical technique and human rights philosophy from a copy of The Columbian Orator that he managed to procure. His elevated grasp of language and rhetoric with no formal education was remarkable, making his work challenging but rich reading for adults today.

As a teenager, Douglass suffered under the hand of a notorious “slave-breaker,” Edward Covey, a man wicked enough to be Simon Legree in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. One day, however, young Frederick’s spirit rose up against this man, and he trounced him so well in a fight that Covey never laid a hand on him again. Douglass noted that experience as the moment he felt himself to be a man, and it doubtless gave inspiration for his successful escape from slavery at age twenty.

Douglass's Narrative, published in 1845. Public Domain: PD-US

Douglass married his sweetheart, Anna, a free woman who had helped him escape, and settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he was free, though technically still a fugitive. Then one day, he visited an anti-slavery meeting held by William Lloyd Garrison, a prominent white abolitionist. Garrison persuaded Douglass to speak to the gathering from his own personal experience as a slave. Though Douglass was terrified, he did so, and the response to his impromptu speech was overwhelming. 

For the first time, people were hearing, not just about how bad slavery was, but from someone who had been a slave himself.

Soon Douglass joined the abolition movement as an official travelling orator, and his presence galvanized and humanized the cause as never before. He advised President Lincoln and recruited for the Union cause, though he eventually became disillusioned with Lincoln’s lack of support for racial equality and black suffrage. Douglass continued to fight for freedom and equality for the rest of his life, as a speaker, writer, adviser, and statesman, speaking out in support of women’s rights as well as racial justice. He traveled internationally, especially to Britain, where English friends actually raised the funds to officially buy Douglass’s freedom, lifting the burden of being a fugitive from him forever.

Later in his life, Douglass served under five presidents as U.S. Marshal and Recorder of Deeds for D.C., as well as Consul General to Haiti, the first African-American to hold political office in the United States.

Frederick Douglass's desk in his home, now a National Historic Site
of the District of Columbia. His desk is arranged
almost exactly as it was during his life.

On February 20, 1895, Frederick Douglass died of a heart attack, in between speaking engagements at a women’s rights rally and a local church. His funeral service attracted an overflow crowd at the Metropolitan AME church in Washington D.C., where you can still see the pew where Douglass sat for services. His words and legacy continue to this day, testimony to the power of one man to tell his story and use his gifts for the good of others.

Famous quotes from Frederick Douglass:

"What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?

I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages." 

~from Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” speech on July 5, 1852. Douglass refused to celebrate the 4^th of July until the slaves were freed.

And from his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, addressing the hypocrisy of professed Christians supporting slavery:

"...I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the horrible inconsistencies, which every where surround me. We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus...The slave auctioneer's bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master...The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity. Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other - evils dressed in angels' robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise."

So, what do you know about Frederick Douglass? Did you learn anything new today? What stands out to you most about his life? Please comment and share!

Kiersti Giron holds a life-long passion for history and historical fiction. She loves to write stories that show the intersection of past and present, explore relationships that bridge cultural divides, and probe the healing Jesus can bring out of brokenness. Kiersti has been published in several magazines and won the 2013 ACFW Genesis Award - Historical for her manuscript Beneath a Turquoise Sky. A high school teacher and member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Kiersti loves learning and growing with other writers penning God's story into theirs, as well as blogging at www.kierstigiron.com. She lives in California with her wonderful husband, Anthony.