{"id":354,"date":"2021-06-01T00:47:28","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T00:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/?page_id=354"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:24:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:24:06","slug":"frederick-douglass-speech-at-dedication-of-emancipation-memorial-1876","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/texts\/frederick-douglass-speech-at-dedication-of-emancipation-memorial-1876\/","title":{"rendered":"Frederick Douglass, Speech at Dedication of Emancipation Memorial (1876)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abraham Lincoln was not, in the fullest sense of the word, either our man or our model. In his interests, in his associations, in his habits of thought, and in his prejudices, he was a white man.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

INTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Douglass as a statesman (Library of Congress)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)<\/a>\u00a0delivered a powerful speech in April 1876 at the dedication of the first public memorial for Abraham Lincoln in Washington, DC \u2013a monument to his role as an emancipator paid for by contributions from ex-slaves. Douglass was then 58 years old, living in the District of Columbia with his family, and widely regarded as one of the country\u2019s most distinguished black leaders. During the post-Civil War period, Douglass had been somewhat disappointed in his attempts to obtain high government office, but nonetheless he had received various diplomatic and political appointments, in recognition for his service to the Republican Party.\u00a0\u00a0By 1876, however, Douglass was deeply concerned about the rollback of civil rights as the Reconstruction period was ending.\u00a0\u00a0It was also a presidential election year, as well as the nation\u2019s centennial.\u00a0\u00a0The stakes were high.\u00a0\u00a0Douglass thus used his dedication speech, on the eleventh anniversary of Lincoln\u2019s assassination, to try to mobilize black action and to attempt to rouse greater commitment from white allies.\u00a0\u00a0In 1865, Douglass had famously eulogized Lincoln as \u201cemphatically the black man\u2019s president,\u201d but here he remembered him as \u201cpreeminently the white man\u2019s President.\u201d The full speech put this depressing shift into thoughtful context, but the juxtaposition was still painfully revealing.\u00a0\u00a0After the ceremony, Douglass also expressed dissatisfaction with the composition of the statue, urging an additional memorial to black self-emancipation.\u00a0\u00a0In 2020, during the explosion of grief following George Floyd\u2019s murder, there were multiple Black Lives Matter protests in Washington calling for the removal of the Emancipation Memorial because of its controversial composition.\u00a0\u00a0The statue still stands, but the debate continues.<\/p>\n

SOURCE FORMAT:\u00a0 Public speech<\/strong><\/p>\n

WORD COUNT: 880 words<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n