Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Based upon the Letter from Wendell Phillips, Esq. we will examine the key passages,

“YOU remember the old fable of “The Man and the Lion,” where the lion complained that he should not be so misrepresented “when the lions wrote history” (Phillips, 1845)

“Fortunate, most fortunate occurrence! – fortunate for the million of his manacled brethren, yet panting for deliverance from their awful thralldom! – fortunate for the cause of negro emancipation, and of universal liberty! – fortunate for the land of his birth, which he has already done so much to save and bless! – fortunate for a large circle of friends and acquaintances, whose sympathy and affection he has strongly secured by the many sufferings he has endured, by his virtuous traits of character, by his ever-adibing remembrance of those who are in bonds, as being bound with them! – fortunate for the multitudes, in various parts of our republic, whose minds he has enlighted on the subject of slavery, and who have been melted to tears by his pathos, or roused to virtuous indignation by his stirring eloquence against the enslavers of men! – fortunate for himself, as it at once brought him into the field of public usefulness, “gave the world assurance of a MAN,” quickened the slumbering energies of his soul, and consecrated him to the great work of breaking the rod of the oppressor, and letting the oppressed go free!” (Garrison, 1845)

Reading: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Chapters 1 through 4 (pp. 1-15)