A Political Companion to Frederick Douglass (Political Companions to Great American Authors)

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) was a prolific writer and public speaker whose contributions to American literature and history have been extensively studied. However, while political theorists have examined the legacies of W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, Douglass's influence on Afro-modern and American political thought has received less scholarly attention. Editor Neil Roberts and a group of established and emerging scholars address this gap by examining Douglass's autobiographies, essays, speeches, and novella. They analyze his treatment of core American ideals including independence, liberation, individualism, and freedom, particularly within the context of slavery. The contributors discuss Douglass's concept of the self-made American and his argument that citizens bear responsibility for improving both their own circumstances and those of their communities. The volume investigates Douglass's ideas about agency and his assertion that every person in a democracy, including enslaved individuals, possesses an innate capacity to act. Essays examine his racial politics, including his complex relationship with racial pride, and explore concepts of masculinity, gender, and judgment in his work. The collection concludes with an analysis of Douglass's contributions to pre- and post-Civil War jurisprudence.