Frederick Douglasshttp://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/douglass/, former slave, was the most significant African American leader prior to and during the American Civil War. Douglass was honored today in Washington with the unveiling of a 7 foot bronze statue by Maryland artist Steve Weitzman.
Douglass had met with abolitionist John Brown in the summer of 1859 in Chambersburg, PA. Douglass tried to discourage Brown from seizing the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, telling Brown he would be going into “The Perfect Steel Trap”. Douglass’ advice was prophetic, as Brown was captured by federal troops and later hanged. Douglass later said that John Brown, a white man, was a hundred times more willing to give his life and the life of his sons for the freeing of slaves than Douglass himself was.
Douglass said of Brown in a speech in 1881 at Storer College in Harpers Ferry – “If John Brown did not end the war that ended slavery, he did at least begin the war that ended slavery. If we look over the dates, places and men, for which this honor is claimed, we shall find that not Carolina, but Virginia - not Fort Sumter, but Harper's Ferry and the arsenal - not Col. Anderson, but John Brown, began the war that ended American slavery and made this a free Republic. Until this blow was struck, the prospect for freedom was dim, shadowy and uncertain. The irrepressible conflict was one of words, votes and compromises. When John Brown stretched forth his arm the sky was cleared. The time for compromises was gone - the armed hosts of freedom stood face to face over the chasm of a broken Union - and the clash of arms was at hand.”
In 2009, the Virginia Sesquicentennial Commission, following Douglass’ thoughts, declared that Brown’s raid on the federal arsenal were the beginning shots of the Civil War.
Douglass was instrumental in helping persuade President Abraham Lincoln to allow enlistments of colored soldiers. Douglass served as a recruiter for U.S. Colored Troops soldiers. His two sons served in the Union army.
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