douglass is not d. is often working with other black activists and that's part of what i really explore in the book. johnson agreed to a meeting with this black delegation because he thought it would go well and serve as good publicity. he had a stenographer named james who is well known as the pioneer in shorthand. he could take wonderful notes. johnson wanted him there because he thought the meeting would go really well in which you once again that is those who are for black people. a transcript of the meeting appeared in a d.c. newspaper that night which is an incredible tribute to the stenographer clephane at a corrected version appears the next morning, at that account for appeared in newspapers around the country. i found it in newspapers in nevada, in california for example. the meeting was basically an effort to get johnson on board with promoting, advocating blacks right to vote. the meeting went something like this. downing led the group and they agreed to johnson dick johnson agreed to them.

it's about anna marie douglass, the wife of frederick douglass. right now, here's another very intriguing and challenging part of this genre. now, anna marie douglass, of course, it's a very real person. she was frederick douglass, his wife of 44 years. but anna remained illiterate all of her life. so we do not have much of anything that anna wrote. we have her her voice to some extent, as spoken about or written about her children or four surviving adult children, and to some extent, commentary about her. but it takes it takes a skilled researcher. i mean, i did some of this for my biography. you have to get at anna, her life, her story through other people and through side doors to her experience. you get at her through the context in which she lived. but she was a truly crucial person in the life of not only frederick douglass, but certainly his family and his is for children. and their 21 grandchildren. and so dinah berry proposed to do this, a short biography of anna marie do now and what and what diana is likely to do. although i don't know,

the aging douglass, the patriarch douglass. that is not the douglass people generally >> douglas work is extraordinary, and many forms. a lot of it digitized. i also had access to missing -- missing issues of frederick douglass newspaper, which i will tell you how they got them, -- they bought them, in some cases. but there have always been missing issues to frederick douglass newspaper. he had the newspaper for 16 years and they are gold mines of information. douglas profit, douglas as writer, and douglas as politician. douglas as politician. talk a little bit about his profit of freedom. >> first, i have to say, eddie has really read this book. and it is a little scary. we were sitting upstairs chatting away and we had some time on the telephone, he's bringing up things that i can hardly remember. if you put the word profit in your title, you better be ready to defend it, it's a big, big word. all through these years of working on douglas, you can't miss it in his rhetoric, written and spoken, that he is deeply steeped in the

and maryland douglass's visa.work. but their murderous road trip was about to end. in a bar, in downtown bags wyoming, ake got drunk. started slapping ginger around. she had had enough. and, as her first opportunity filled her guts to the bar kyiv. and, the bar owner alerted the police but by then ake and hutch, escaped and he was a detective sergeant in colorado back then. >> our deputies found out that the car was associated with ake and hutch and that they were wanted on a number of different murders in oklahoma and texas. they tried to pursue the car but what we had then was just kind of an old pick up truck for patrol vehicles and of course these guys got away real quick. >> ake and hutch floyd -- [interpreter] for the 2020, they searched and scarred the county. >> our guys chased and the car just got away from them. just disappeared about 25 miles north of town. >> they had given the cops the slip. all on money freezing, and the colorado, winter ake hutch was desperate us animals. they invaded around, house

and for frederick douglass to say, for lincoln to say that, impressed frederick douglass very profoundly, as well it might. it wouldn't have sounded out of place in the mouth of a presbyterian minister, say, reflecting on the nation's ordeal of the war. but for a president to say that, it's truly extraordinary. and i think that douglass's understanding of that and how radical it was and how deep it was and how much it reflected his sense of justice and his compassion for blacks, i think is truly remarkable. and therefore that paragraph deserves to be more carefully scrutinized than the more famous final paragraph that immediately follows it. >> thank you for calling our attention to it and thank you for reading it. noah feldman, the second inaugural? >> i strongly agree with michael and his emphasis on that paragraph. i would say that that paragraph amounts to what we would call the political theology of the united states. a political theology is the use of religious ideas, distinctively religious ideals, to explain political events and to give them meaning. i think that what lincoln is

frederick douglass would sayay that. impressive frederick douglass profoundly as well it might. reflecting on the nation's ordeal but for a president to say that is truly extraordinary. i think douglass' understanding of that and how radical it was and how deep it was. i might reflected a sense of justice and its compassion for blacks is truly remarkable. that paragraph deserves to be more carefullysc scrutinized thn the more famous final paragraph that follows it. quick thinking for calling our attention to it and thank you for reading it. andy now the second inaugural progressives agree with this emphasis on that paragraph i've seen that paragraph amount to what we call the political theology of the united states for political theology is the use of religious ideas distinctively religiousal ideaso explain political eventsha and o give them meaning. i think what lincoln is doing is offering a version i would not call a secularized but the theology that's heavily dependent on protestant christian ideas so in this picture slavery could be a real sin. something had to happen. much

book that lincoln was the black man's president and you have you have several speeches of frederick douglass that you begin with including in 1865 eulogy on lincoln where he said no people at class of people in the country have a better. reason for lamenting the death of lincoln then have the colored people. what is the significance of that? speech? and why do you believe that lincoln was the black man's president? well, thank you very much for your kind introduction and thank you for inviting me. i feel a little out of place because my book is focused the central theme i'm book is let's not focus on lincoln speeches and writings and policies in the light. let's focus on lincoln's interaction with black people both in springfield and in washington, but the title of the book comes from a eulogy that frederick douglass delivered on june 1st 1865 in cooper union the premiere site in the country to give up major speech. and it was covered widely in the new york press, but it's been on accountably ignored by historians and anthologists of douglas's speeches. and in this remarkable speech he says

that was, it's a long time between that and frederick douglass. what richard wright did was bring some of the same emotions, feelings the repercussions of what had happened with frederick douglass. so many writers especially in the african-american tradition talk about the impact of that book. in fact, desmond ward one of the authors at the book festival said when she was like i didn't learn about this in school. i didn't know about some of this. that book had quite a bit of influence. host: one of my original lists that i created, it was all more contemporary authors. we made the determination and this is how the library broke it up as well, if the year increments. -- 50 year increments. we chose to books from each 50 years. that made it hard, because there were so many in the last 40 years that we are all familiar with. roots, barry my heart at wounded knee. we could have chosen those and it would be easy but this is a history series so we wanted to go through history and that's why we chose two of them from each 50 year increments. let's hear f

frederick douglass and other african-americans turned on him more quickly. they compared him to the president of the confederacy and warned the games of the civil war were on the verge of being lost because of the treachery. douglas and other black activists believed that something needed to be done and that takes us to douglas' second meeting february 7th, 1866. .. these are two members of the group. george downing was a black activist. he was at restaurant tour from rhode island that moved to washington d.c. he had become friends with charles' arbiter. he got the job of being in charge of the. he was the leader of the group. dallas was the first son of frederick and ana. i had worked with his father as a journalist. he was the corresponding secretary was involved in writing responses about the meeting. and one thing i want to emphasize here and i emphasize this throughout the book it. he's not acting alone. an activist and part of what i really explore. the he was going to serve as publicity. he had a sonographer, who is a well-known as a pioneer in shorth

johnson joins lincoln at the reception and i'm going to let frederick douglass. tell the story of what happened next. this is from douglas's 1881 life and times of frederick douglas. so it's about 16 years. later. i was standing in the crowd when mr. lincoln touched mr. johnson appointed me out to him the first expression which came to his face in which i think was the true index of his heart was one of bitter contempt and aversion. seeing that i observed him. he tried to assume a more friendly appearance, but it was too late. it is useless to close the door when all within has been seen. his first glance was the frown of the man. the second was the bland and sickly smile of the demagogue. i turned to this is dorsey douglas is cool, my friend and said whatever andrew johnson may be he certainly is no friend of our race. it's it's a great passage. douglas is a great writer. i am an english professor and i like the metaphor of this idea of a door. sorry. let me go back. oh the door opening and closing showing johnson's true feelings the thing i want to emphasize ab

ocber 9, the life of frederick douglass. common law by oliver wendell october 23, advs of huckleberry finn by mark twain. the neday night, my a byill look out there. their eyes were watching, ee tohoos a personal statement by milton rose and finally we conclude the words of cesar chavez on november 28. books that shaped america starts september 18. well, we are still live at the national book festival. the 23rd time in a row that book tv has been here and we have a couple more hours of coverage. in a few minutes you will be hearing from authors talking about black writing and identity. after that, food and culture. we have two more guests coming to the such. one is chasten buttigieg. i have something to tell you is the name of his book followed by doug brinkley who has written a number of books on everything historical. we will talk to him about the ark of history. in the meantime, we want to show you another author. this was beverly gage. she had a pulitzer prize-winning book out this year about hoover and the fbi. here she

dramatically describing this convention in his 1881 license with frederick douglass.da facing down andrew johnson. but facing down the republican. i do not think that johnson supported the performances. actually douglas, johnson became much more reactionary by the end of 1865. i will just say by way of conclusion that when johnson went on the road in 1869 attempting to become a congressman, must have had the vote and suddenly he needed them all of these speeches that he gives, about his internal lipstick as you can be. you can also say he is kind of needy. he wants love. and yet he is doing the worst possible things to black people while he is president. the irony is, precisely because he is, they had to speed up the passage and ratification of the amendment. by 1870, ulysses s grant is president. onthe question is, where did things go wrong? it is not just about johnson. when you talk about reconstruction in the black perspective you get a larger sent of the white racism everywhere. douglas was one of the great fighters against that racism to a time of his death. and

you might send a postcard to douglass. and he'd respond, and he'd say, give me every document, every information you can. people, these green grassroots, as the country starts ending douglas rooms of their daughter about what is going on a local place. and douglas would farm it out to david brower at the sierra club. or william howard -- at the wilderness society. and then douglas kept hiking and hiking. he hiked in kentucky to stop the game and he won. he hiked with bobby and ethel kennedy along the olympic peninsula of washington state and one. no roads. he went to the buffalo river in arkansas, a beautiful river where the protests were so big, people were putting barbed wire across the river so canoes or kayakers would get untangled. there were shootings going on. and there, bill douglas -- now, i didn't say he is a great supreme for justice. okay? okay? you got it. i am just telling you, this is what his life was about. he didn't like lawyers or law clerks, he was very mean to supreme court. he is complicated. but not

lots of people know about lincoln's interaction with frederick douglass because douglas described him in his out of artifice in some detail. but little has been done about lincoln's interaction with other black people. and so thanks to the enormous utility of modern databases i was able to take up a lot of new information. everything i've written needs to be updated thanks to these databases. and so what i have found is that both in springfield andnd in washington lincoln interacted with large number of black people, all of them commented on how respectful he was, how kind and how generous, and it wasn't just courtesy but also gestures and actions based on appeals that they made that indicates to my way of thinking that lincoln was an instinctive racial egalitarian. >> fast dating. thank you so much for that thank you for calling our attention to the tremendous significance of digitized primary texts which have indeed transformed the struggle research and understanding of lincoln. no fret -- noah feldman you said the constitution was broken as you put in the "new york times," lincoln

and it was to deal with the and calls people of color, it's a negative and thought frederick douglass the one who she's new and told her what was wrong with that. many of the people in my community for all the work to did. they were very good friends in spite of that. they learn about that because they were lost in the home for a period of time and he did her eulogy. so it was an enduring relationship but there was one that was tone deaf to the original sin of racism and where it fits that is something that has to be on that. to participate in women's groups, you've got to believe. the monument officers by our commission of the essential part there is no statute of women. it would be a statute of women and was originally at the last moment and decided that was enough. and it was a certainty and they have the upkeep of the statute they have the names of all the other suffragists they had at the time. now we have women in this central area. for me, when i heard there were no statute of women, at least that is one thing when i got right so i found out they were going to go ahead with it

hoxie mentioned frederick douglass. who are some of the other important characters in your narrative? >> there are a lot of people across the board from abolitionist lecturers, black activists who come in and out of the story. i have already partner who i worked with. -- i have a writing partner that i worked with. she said it is like in the ordinary movie, you would have -- in the mainstream, hollywood movie you would have seen over the last number of years, you would have henry daniel webster. where more recently, frederick douglass at the center of the story. now, these characters get walk on roles. that is how i like to see them. some of them come in and out, they are great lecturers. they kind of show the craft of telling the story and what it means to live a life and freedom in the north and overseas. it is the president of the united states and secretary of state, daniel webster figuring out how they would try to help recapture this. there international celebrities that get another craft abroad. lots and lots of

the final paragraph as one people know best, frederick douglass and that speech i mentioned, the markableagraph is one that you can start off with jesus. the defenses, but by whom the offense comes? and it comes. passing through time to remove and goes north and south by whom the offense came so any departure by those divine attributes always ascribed to him. we pray this gourmet speedily cost away but if god wills it continue until 250 years total to the paid going so it must be together and it is truly remarkable and reveals his commitment to racial equality and the address of the president something to the effect having enslaved black people in the war has gone so long because he is heavily balanced, 250 years of colonel and income was generated by that equal to the wages to be displayed in the war was incredibly letting will and there were 150,000 is is seven and a half million men will was just thewa pope of the and it ws extraordinary for him later to say that it was profound. it would not have sounded out of place for the minister to say this but for a president to say that is trul

douglass is very powerful answer.reme court recently ruled that alabama had to redraw congressional district maps to ensure fairness to black voters. they are violating that order from the supreme court. how is what's happening in alabama, the defiance of the supreme court, another example to that i was talking about? >> jonathan, let's throw down even further for our friend douglass is beautiful explanation of what's going on right now. it is not just white power that we are talking about. it is specifically white nationalism. and the difference there is white nationalism refers to the idea that only white people at the once you are allowed to and supposed to participate and run those democratic institutions. which are at the core of how our country operates. when you talk about who has access to the vote you're talking about who has access to be prosecuted and be a judge that all of these are people in positions that sit at the helm of democracy. so what donald trump and others like him who shares beliefs of ideolog

frederick douglass gained his credentials. it is not coincidental the people that participated in the movement chose what is known as the freedom church to a large social justice agenda soso i thk that there needs to be some concentration on that but more particularly more recently i was at a meeting where most of the delegates to the meeting were women. there were three women vying for office and maybe half a dozen men ando there were two positios available but no women were e elected. there is also the issue of women still not being comfortable voting for other women, and i think that that needs to be more fully explored by those that come next. as for the harriet tubman home and at the national park, we use our naturalization ceremony to amplify women's suffrage and let them know people fought very hard to have the vote and why it was important for them to participate fully. in previous times, the league of women voters used to be there to give out information to help begin the educational process. i know i'm taking a lot o

. >> frederick douglass came by language when he was a slave. he continued over and over in his free life after he escapes from slavery and you have to remember he lives 20 years a slave than another seven years as a fugitive slave until his british friends bought his freedom. he is always in those years the 1840's and 1850's even into the civil war years trying to perfect hiwriting style, his craft. >> from the c-span archives tonight on c-span. be sure to watch the new series s that shaped america in congress beginning monday,f september 18. live at 9:. eastern on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. c-spanshop.org is the online store. browse through products, apparel, oaks, home to core, and accessories. there is something for everyone and sales help support our nonprofit operation. this year book tv marks 25 years of shining a spotlight on leading nonfiction authors and their books. from author talks, interviews, and festivals. book tv has provided viewers with a front row

it going back to douglass douglass before became the great emancipator matter. does anybody know what frederick was so little bit of a trick question. how he was a reader. he learned to read. he tricked his master's white son to teach him the alphabet. i bet you spell cat. the white boy would say it's cat. okay, well noted. literally. this is how an enslaved piece of property chattel learned to read and pre emancipated america to so-called emancipated america when it was against the law and punishable by up to death. that's how threatening an educated black person is in this country because an educated person is a black person who is not inclined to submit in a perpetual state of servitude. so i think this is really provocative. i've never really unpacked this until moment, but i love it because what is sold to us as a bill goods of the kind of vote you wisdom that comes through service, and god knows i make a service to all mankind. azikiwe absolutely. and that does not have to shall not be the end our position. so to me i think my short answer to you, if i can

but that speech with douglass's actual words probably would be banned in florida too because why teach watered down conservative version of it. what's even more ironic is as conservatives argue that teaching about gay people and the atrocities of slavery is indoctrination, here is how prager himself described his fake university's content at a moms for liberty conference last month. >> i really wanted to hear what evidence do you have that i am despicable. so it was fascinating, i spent at least ten minutes there until i just had to come in here, and all i heard was, well, because you indoctrinate kids. which is true, we bring doctrines to children. that's a very fair statement. i said, but what is the bad of our indoctrination? >> yeah, okay, so what i'm getting is indoctrination is fine as long as they're the ones doing it. is that what's going on here? this is a question that i would love to ask the florida educational commissioner, manny diaz, but apparently he's too busy to take questions even from his own constituents on what is in fact the first day of the fall school year in mu

and he quotes frederick douglass here education means emancipation.and he he believes that misconstruing. so what happens just really quick? the court upholds a voucher program where you can use vouchers for community schools, magnet schools, private schools and and other religious schools. and that's the hook that the union others challenge it on is believe that using it for catholic schools and schools violates establishment clause just. thomas points out in a number of ways in a writing how it would contorting the establishment clause say a parent's choice is governed by that in really simple terms. and what i mean by that is the voucher was such that the money the voucher went to the parents to use as they saw fit. and one other thing i should mention is, they could also choose to get a voucher not send their kids out of public schools, but use it for tutoring. so the program was aimed to really the educational opportunity cities for cleveland kids and give their parent a say and in fact they created a twitter page for the book. it's called the pe

recalls the life and writings of a former slave and order frederick douglass. >> frederick douglass came by language when he was a slave. he continued over and over in his free life after he escaped from slavery and you have to remember, he lives 20 years slave and another seven years as fugitive slave until his british friends bought his freedom. he is always in those years the 1840's and 1850's and even into the civil war years trying to perfect hisng style, his craft. >> from the c-span archives tonight on c-span. be sure to watch the series books that shaped america in partnership with trary of congress beginning monday, september 18 live at 9:00 p eastern on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> the federalist is one of the new series.s america in our a college president taught a class about the development of the u.s. constitution. he talks about the aim of the federalist papers. >> good evening, welcome to class number two of our study. last week, we looked at the history a brief look at history that led to the drafting of the constitution. i want to talk about that. as

then another experience of this chaos with frederick douglass is when he is beaten by an overseer and he runs away, he runs into the woods, but he encounters a prophet slash priest slash medicine man who then tells him that, you know, you know, a child of god. i'm going give you some right here. you wear this over on the left side and you go back and you tell that overseer you are a child of god and you went back and told him he beat them for hours and said, i'm a child of god don't you ever beat me again? which an incredible thing for this enslaved african to say that i am a human being. and he continues on with moments every time that there was a moment of chaos. he i'm going to employ for my good if there is something that explodes gnashing ailey i'm going to use it to community create the suffering of my people and douglass was a genius at dealing with issues of chaos and the black struggle over and over again, chaotic moments. and yet we come up with these times to be able to demonstrate how we can operate at a different level in this nation. that's the black tradition. the black

in 1845 slavery still divided the country but former slave frederick douglass's autobiography further the cause of abolition. as our nation a matured, books and ideas continued to shape our nation from huckleberry finn to the harlem renaissance. these are the ideas that shaped america. join in the conversation with comments at c-span. books that take you down the mississippi river to the open prairies of nebraska into the pacific coast. books that examine free-market capitalism and workers strikes. books that shaped america. lived for 10 weeks, monday night at 9:00 eastern on c-span, c-span.org, and c-span radio, starting september 18. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. brought to you by and more. including spark life. clicks the greatest town on earth is a place you call home. right now we are all facing our greatest challenge. that is why sparklight is working around the clock to keep you connected. we are doing our part so is easier to do yours. >> sparklight supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers. giving you a front row seat t

douglass was trying speak to an approach abolition group in both them. we're not talking about the deep south in the 1860s and he was subject to attack by a violent mob which prevented his speech from going forward. and he very eloquently so another platform was obtained a few days later and he gave a very famous speech in which he said, you know shouting down a speaker is a double wrong. it violates the free speech of the audience as well as the speaker. nadine strossen this book, hate why we should resist it with free speech, not censorship, is part of the so-called inalienable rights, which is why it's a series published by. oxford university press. the series editor is, a wonderful colleague and friend of mine, geoffrey stone, a professor at the university of chicago, former dean of the university of chicago law school. former provost of the university of chicago, and i think best known people might not associate his name, but his best known contribution. in 2015, he was author of the so-called chicago free speech principles, which have now been adop