Lot 258: Frederick Douglass' honest speech at the unveiling of the Freedman's Monument

DOUGLASS, FREDERICK.

Oration by Frederick Douglass Delivered on the Occasion of the Unveiling of the Freedmen’s Monument in memory of Abraham Lincoln, In Lincoln Park, Washington D.C., April 14th, 1876. Washington DC: Gibson Brothers, 1876. First edition. Sewn in original salmon-colored printed paper wrappers. 9 x 5 5/8 inches (22.75 x 14.5 cm); 21 pp. Wrappers with some soiling and wear, a vertical central crease, a few short tears and creases to edges, a split at the foot of the spine, and a loss to the lower corner of the rear wrapper, contents generally bright but with a few spots of soiling and creasing to lower corners, altogether a sound and presentable copy of a scarce, fragile pamphlet.

Frederick Douglass delivered the inauguration speech at the unveiling of the Freedmen's Monument, now known as the Emancipation Memorial, on April 14th, 1876, the eleventh anniversary of the assassination of President Lincoln. The sculpture, by Thomas Ball, shows Lincoln standing, holding a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and freeing an enslaved man. The Freedman is depicted on one knee, about to stand up, shirtless, with a clenched fist and broken shackles at his feet. It was paid for solely by donations from freed slaves. Douglass' speech, printed for the first time in this pamphlet, both praises Lincoln and honestly addresses the complexities of his legacy towards slavery - "truth compels me to admit... [that] 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... The race to which we belong were not the special objects of his consideration. Knowing this, I concede to you, my white fellow-citizens, a pre-eminence in this worship at once full and supreme... For while Abraham Lincoln saved for you a country, he delivered us from a bondage" (pp.4-6). After giving his speech, Douglass wrote a letter to the National Republican newspaper criticizing the statue's design - "What I want to see before I die is a monument representing the negro, not couchant on his knees like a four-footed animal, but erect on his feet like a man." Douglas would not be the last to denounce the monument - in 2020, Elenor Holmes Norton, the U.S. Delegate for D.C., announced plans to introduce legislation to have the memorial removed.