I am sure you have heard of Fredrick Douglass before. In this blog, however, I plan to dig into his role with John Brown and his role in Harpers Ferry. In a quick summary of his life, Fredrick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818. He was taught to read and write by the people who enslaved him. He then eventually taught other enslaved people to read the New Testament. He tried to escape slavery twice and succeeded on the second attempt. He became an anti-slavery lecturer finally after demonstrating his skill as an orator. He even established newspapers to write about his own experience, the horrors of slavery, and abolitionism. He was also a supporter of women’s rights and attended the Seneca Falls Convention.
Fredrick Douglass first crossed paths with John Brown at a meeting in Springfield, MA, in 1847. At this meeting, John Brown outlined his plan to Douglass to raid Harpers Ferry armory. Douglass had objections to the strategy of the plan to raid the armory. He did not think it would work, but he did respect Brown’s dedication and commitment to end slavery.
That meeting in 1847, Douglass writes about in his autobiography Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. He says John Brown did not want to plan a general uprising among slaves or mass slaughter of slave owners. Instead, he wanted to “destroy the money value of slave property” by freeing slaves and helping them cross through the Allegheny mountains (link). Douglass does not go into how this would cause slavery to decrease in monetary value. Still, I believe John Brown thought by freeing slaves and fighting slaveholders in the mountain, he would create instability in the slave market, and people would deem it too risky to hold slaves.
Douglass became good friends with Brown and his family. Brown stayed at Douglass’s home in Rochester, New York, for a month in 1858. Brown wrote his provisional constitution for the state of Virginia, which I talked about in my last blog, during this time. Likely, Douglass knew much about the raid on Harpers Ferry, but it is hard to know what his level of involvement was. We do know that Douglass was not in favor of a violent end to slavery, and wanted to end slavery through the already existing legal system. The only letter we have surviving during Brown’s stay is a note Douglass wrote saying, “John, come down for dinner,” which I find quite amusing (link).
Like Harriet Tubman, Brown tried to convince Douglass to join his raid. Douglass declined (this fact is disputed). He did meet with Brown before the raid in Chambersburg, PA. Brown asks him to go, but Douglass says: “I can’t do it. You’re going to be surrounded in a trap of steel. You will never get out. But if you must go, go.” (link).
The full extent of support he gave to Brown may never be known, but we can say that Douglass was a friend to Brown and fighter for the cause of equality.
Also before you go, I would like to remind everyone that a show about John Brown’s life will be airing on Showtime this Friday. It is called The Good Lord Bird!
It’s actually kind of mind-blowing seeing the connection between all of these abolitionists. I do remember reading Douglas’s autobiography in the eighth grade, as well as stories about the other ones you’ve done posts on, and your posts have definitely given me a new insight into their lives and work.
Once again, your penchant for digging up lost history concerning America’s darkest time is fascinating. Brown’s relations to the abolitionist movement and his ties to the individuals that gave it the weight it carried to the Civil War run far deeper than I thought before reading.
I also remember reading his biography in 8th grade! At that point, I didn’t realize all the connections between most of the abolitionists at that time. Your blogs are also so well researched and well written.
I knew a little about Fredrick Douglas before this, or at least the basics of who he was. I didn’t know about his involvement in the raid, however I loved how he used his natural abilities in speaking and writing to try and find a more peaceful way to end slavery, rather than through revolution.
I think it’s really interesting how you’re connecting all of these stories to provide a more intertwined history instead of just individual biographies. I like how you outlined the differences in ideologies between using violence as a method compared to devaluing slaves to cause financial harm. The only surviving record being the call to dinner from the meeting is funny!