the old man summoned things up as life and times of frederick douglass. it's a text that's full of name dropping. he wants you to know all the famous people he knows, the presidency has advised and on and on. for us scholars, it's a go mind of -- a gold mine of stories, events, details. what we know about his relationship with john brown, especially down to the people of the attack. we know from that text. and he revises the third one another time in 1892. the autobiographies are one form, but he mastered the short form political editorial. the political essay for his newspaper. he could write in a very different voice. he could go after a political issue, whether it's the dred scott decision or whatever it is, in just kinda nail it in 400 words. he also wrote these elaborate speeches. as texts. the fourth of july speech is a masterpiece of writing first. there's a letter where he says, i work for three reasons period he says eyelet -- i work longer on this than anything i have ever delivered, and you can tell. if i could ever get him in a room and ask hi

that was a bridge too far for frederick douglass. people that loved him where like emerson, thoreau, alcott, the intellectual proud -- proud of break -- greater boston. hayden: we are physically next door to the supreme court, right here. at the library of congress. and the next book is the common law by oliver wendell holmes junior. holmes says that the life of the law has not been logic, it has been experience. why is this on the list? brinkley: i was surprised that he was on the list, now that he is not a giant, but i have never read common law. it has become such a part of our culture, we are the most legalistic society in the world, and he has boiled down thoughts about our legal institutions, that book has distilled elections -- lectures and thinking down into a potent, longer form essay. you can read it pretty quickly. he was an extraordinary figure, and me, mainly, people don't maybe realize because theodore roosevelt put them on the supreme court, and he lived to be 93 years old, he was the oldest supreme court justice. when

he was quite bold, like frederick douglass. frederick douglass is essentially eventually someone buys him so that he doesn't have to worry about constantly on the run, but germaine logan was sort of saying, dare i dare you to come after me? and in letter he says, i have many people who would come up and protect me from people like you. so do you know if reverend logan was ever able to find his brother and sister who had been sold? no no, i don't know that. it's a really interesting story, because it seems that his mother was actually free and was kidnaped, and that did happen. so the children should have all free. yeah. there is also a question online about i think it was danger field, his family, if you know the fate of his wife, i'm sorry, who's dangerfield? uh huh. dangerfield newbie. mm hmm. what about his wife? if you know the fate of the rest of his family after he was in the john brown raid? no, no, i don't. can you say something about how the civil war brought freedom? but also it created this enormous number of refugee

. >> can you tell us a bit about her relationship with frederick douglass? >> wells was actually close to douglas, particularly after she was exiled from memphis. she went into his circle, she became friends with his second wife and was able to work with him, they collaborated on a protest pamphlet against the exclusion of african-americans from the 1893 chicago world's fair, the columbian exposition, celebrating 400 years of american progress and exceptionalism. and, because african-americans had been systematically excluded from any of the exhibits, the only nonwhite peoples who were allowed to but despite the fair with those who were in the midway exhibits showing the evolution of societies from primitive hunter gatherer societies up to the great achievements of white americans as you entered into the main exhibition halls of what was literally called the white city. they created a protest pamphlet that wells wrote a substantial portion of. she signed her name to the article on lynch law, most closely associated with her but she also probably wrote if not

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

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

i want to point out, this is a historic site, the old douglass high school, named after frederick douglass was located here and had to be torn down because of asbestos. but the douglas center remains, and it has become a symbol of pride for this community. we are in a good place here today, i am glad this is where we could hold this event. thank you for coming here, thank you so much to the first lady, for coming with you. i am sure she could have done a lot of other things. but she is like my wife, when i go somewhere, i like for her to go with me my even if it is to go to walmart. we enjoyed being together, and i know you do too. thank you mr. president. god bless you. [no audio] [no audio]

i want to point out, this is a historic site, the old douglass high school, named after frederick douglass was located here and had to be torn down because of asbestos. but the douglas center remains, and it has become a symbol of pride for this community. we are in a good place here today, i am glad this is where we could hold this event. thank you for coming here, thank you so much to the first lady, for coming with you. i am sure she could have done a lot of other things. but she is like my wife, when i go somewhere, i like for her to go with me my even if it is to go to walmart. we enjoyed being together, and i know you do too. thank you mr. president. god bless you. [no audio] [no audio] >> a healthy democracy does not just look like this. it looks like this. where americans can see democracy at work. when citizens are truly informed, our republic thrives. get informed straight from the source on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. from the nation's capitol, to wherever you are. the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered

he gave frederick douglass a federal job. he advocated for civil service reform. in fact, he stood up to roscoe conkling, this big corrupt republican boss in new york. he ends up falling as a result of garfield. in the end, he was probably the president most to credit for meaningful civil service reform, but not in the way he would have chosen. in the train station on the way to a college reunion, garfield is going to the platform and an insane man who was a this is pointed dashes disappointed shot him twice from behind. sadly, garfield probably would have been okay if the doctors had just left him alone. but no, they kept poking and prodding him with unsterilized instruments and even their fingers trying to find out where the bullet is. he got badly infected and lingered for months before dying. although this is undeniably tragic, his death may actually have been his biggest contribution to american politics. the shocking nature of a presidential assassination built a groundswell of support for civil service reform. in its way, george pendleton proposed the civil

lincoln used to have conversations with frederick douglass a lot. he not allowed to eat at the white house or anything. or do you know it's not that he wasn't allowed to eat, he wasn't invited to dinner. what happened was booker right. i think at receptions, frederick douglass but i don't think like a dinner and meetings. i mean, lincoln would meet with people all the time, but, but, you know, having a person at dinner sitting down to eat was a really, really big deal. and i think we should celebrate teddy roosevelt for for doing it with booker t washington. and i think it's extra cool that he did it after reading his book. that's great right here. i just have to i think fdr was an exceptional president and i just wanted to ask if there were any others that made the impact after the that following the stock market crash, fdr was over the wpa, which was the works project and it it employed a lot of musicians and artists and things that you don't even hear about today. and are there any other presidents that have come close to that kind of a platform

who made that point so powerfully in our country as history was the great abolition crusader frederick douglass. and again, showing that one person's love speech is somebody else's hated speech. 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

in 1845, slavery still divides the country, but former slave frederick douglass autobiography furtherf abolition and as our nation matured, books and ideas continue to shape our national identity. from mark twain's huckleberry finn to the harlem renaissance, to milton friedman's great market principles, to cesar chavez and his fight for labor rights. these are the ideas and movements that shaped america. joining the conversation as c-span and the library of congress look at books that are the landmarks of american politics and law. explore race relations, to the open prairies of nebraska. books that examine free-market capitalism, books that changed america. lifer 10 weeks, monday night on c-span, c-span.org, and c-span radio, starting september 18. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including charter communications. >> charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers, and we are just getting started. building 1000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. >> charter communica

and emancipation, he wants to be a part of that family and part of that scene and he reads frederick douglass and becomes much more aware. beyond what it is about race that is the problem. you can watch them growing up. you can watch us gods mature by these writings, and by the end of his life he is still ranting and raving, but he has come a long way in terms of his appreciation for a difference and variety of american life. he was a democrat in the broadest sense, a republican and the broadest sense. lewis said he is our most democratic writer, and that is true, because he is writing things for and about our democracy. it is about freedom, it is about independence, and freedom and independence are probably the two words that mark twain longed for. she talked about the independent riverboat pilot who was the king of all he surveyed and could not be crossed, so there is the sense in him that as a writer and commentator he achieved that freedom and independence. the freedom and independence he never achieved was freedom from his god. something was said in him that he could not just get rid of,

something that was part of that idea of advancing civil rights for african-americans, including frederick douglass, he gives frederick a federal job. he advocates for civil service reform. in fact, he up to roscoe conkling, roscoe conkling. actually, there's this big corrupt republican boss in new york. he ends up falling as a result of the actions of garfield. and in the end, he was probably the president most to credit for meaningful civil service, but not in the way he would have chosen in a train on the way to a college reunion, garfield is going to the platform and an insane man who was a disappoint at office seeker, a guy named charles guiteau, shoots him twice from behind and garfield probably would have been okay if the doctor suggests left him alone. but they kept poking and prodding him with unsterilized instruments, even their fingers, trying to find out where the is. and so he gets badly infected. and he lingers months before dying. and although this of course, is undeniably tragic, garfield's death may actually have been his biggest contribution to american politics. it's the shocking

how to confront a crisis from lincoln just as lincoln, okay pushed by escaping the south and frederick douglasse became friends with pushed and enabled to sign the emancipation proclamation. he saved the united states by making america radically clear more democratic whatever they were. fdr realized the way to save america in theie face of the grt depression as he told his friend is we need to go fairly radical release to generation and he did things turn fullbore to which strengthened the new deal efforts and in fact some historians are rightht to say maybe the war effort was like a third new deal. >> that's why as we move forward or think about the speech, that speech is so rich and rife with language and phrases. it's hard to think of it as not being an inauguralau address because two weeks later it has such a wealth of meaning in it. it starts with these two. >> the depression and world war ii. >> when he giveswh that speech e knows americans don't want to give up the new deal and he tells them look we to turn ourselves into a democracy but that doesn't mean we will give up what we have ach

you look at books like frederick douglass books the narrative of life of frederick douglass, if you look at ida b wells, crusade for justice, southern hearts, reporting on race and everything else. what they're trying to do is prevent young black kids, not their children -- not the right wing children from reading these books but they don't want the black children having access to these books. a lot of these children's are in title i schools with free lunches and free breakfast or lunch and they don't have access to these types of books otherwise. my solution, i always believe in issues impact solutions. the issue is they want to ban books that inspire black kids based upon how frederick douglass and others dealt with the race issue in their day and the impact is a lot of these kids won't realize how determination and everything else plays into how to deal with these challenges and the solution is in florida and these other places where they are being banned, i think like-minded people, especially football players and people should purchase these books for these children in title i schoo

you look at books like frederick douglass books the narrative of life of frederick douglass, if you look at ida b wells, crusade for justice, southern hearts, reporting on race and everything else. what they're trying to do is prevent young black kids, not their children -- not the right wing children from reading these books but they don't want the black children having access to these books. a lot of these children's are in title i schools with free lunches and free breakfast or lunch and they don't have access to these types of books otherwise. my solution, i always believe in issues impact solutions. the issue is they want to ban books that inspire black kids based upon how frederick douglass and others dealt with the race issue in their day and the impact is a lot of these kids won't realize how determination and everything else plays into how to deal with these challenges and the solution is in florida and these other places where they are being banned, i think like-minded people, especially football players and people should purchase these books for these children in title i schoo

confront a crisis from lincoln here just as lincoln, okay, pushed by slaves escaping the south, by frederick douglass with whom he actually became friends, was pushed and enabled to cite emancipationge proclamation come to do what he had longed to do, he saved the united states by making america radically freer more equally more democratic, whatever failings that were. fdr realized the way to save america in the face of the great depression as he toldd his fried is we need to go very radical for at least a generation, and he did thinks even during world war ii which actually strengthenedef the new deal of effort. in fact, i think some historians are right to say may be the war effort was like a third new deal. >> well, that's why as we move forward or think a about again e four freedoms speech, that speech is so rich and rife with language and phrases that are so important. it's hard to think of it as not being an inaugural address because it has such a wealth of meaning in it, that these two. two. come the depression and world war ii. >> in fact, what's interesting when he gives that speech he knows

when i see books by some of the greatest authors, frederick douglass there. being taken off the shelf, that's when i begin to worry that we are falling into this trap where we are failing to do what is necessary to democracy which is to create public forums, educational pathways that engender empathy and understanding, that engender deep knowledge, that engender the kind of sentiment that's necessary for democratic democracies to exist, not a culture of contempt for one another but a deeper culture of understanding. i had conversations with my parents, you brought up two black boys in a predominantly white community, what were you thinking then and we talked about a lot of the books we read at home and read at school and she would laugh at me right now and say of course i could have bought you those books if they were removed from the library but it wasn't for you, it was for your peers. for them to have access. i remember the power of reading invisible man in my high school english class and the impact it had on my peers. i had the most nurturing positive co

of telling the story of what they seen and experienced, of making clear that there was, as frederick douglass put it, a right side and a wrong side in the war. and i think reconstruction only. dramatically their efforts to return to civilian they they see. right i think this is really remarkable in the 19th century. you know this is an age that that prides itself on smaller republican citizen soldiers who return home and quickly perfumed the whiff of anything, martial and and set aside all of their authority over political issues. and they union veterans, i think, refused to do that they lost the battle over the war's memory in their lifetime. but i think they're they're winning in the long, long, you. yes, sir. last question. the horror that the civilian population saw firsthand was the revelation of the pictures and what have you of the day, which do you think impacted their feelings about support or lack are not supporting the war as much? was it the dead themselves or was lincoln's emancipation proclamation a few days later? that's a good question. so we do have some preliminary work from

i know why the caged bird sings, the handmaid's tale, narrative of the life of frederick douglass, a raisin in the sun, brave new world, and beloved. these are books that were written by some of the greatest american authors including trailblazing black women like toni morrison. it even works written by martin luther king jr. were bands temporarily in a further to limit access to books about race or racism all in the name of prohibiting material supposedly related to critical race theory. let's be clear, efforts to ban books are wrong whether they come from the right or the left. when we ban books like maus or to kill a mockingbird we deny these students the opportunity to learn about different people and difficult subjects. limiting access to books about and mice -- anti-semitism or racism does not eliminate these from reality. politicians have targeted books that include lgbtq plus characters and themes. nobody is advocating for sexually explicit content to be available in an elementary school library or children section of the library. that is a distraction from the real challenge

narrative of the life of frederick douglass. a raisin in the sun. brave new world. and beloved. these are books written by some of the greatest american authors including trailblazing black women like toni morrison and my angela. even works -- maya angelou. all in the name of prohibiting materials supposedly related to critical race theory. let's be clear, efforts to ban books are wrong whether they come from the right or the left. when we ban books like maus or to kill a mockingbird in the name of protecting students we are denying students the opportunity to learn about people and difficult subjects. limiting access to a book like antisemitism does not protect students from the actual history or the reality that hate still exists. in the name of protecting students, politicians have targeted books that include lgbtq+ subject matter. one out of every four banned books features lgbtq+ characters and themes according to penn america. no one is advocating for sexually explicit content to be available in an elementary school library or children section of the library. that is a dis

okay pushed by slaves escaped in the south by frederick douglass, with whom he actually became friends, was and enabled to sign the emancipation proclamation, do what he had longed to do. he may. he saved the united states by making america radically freer, more and more democratic. whatever failings there were. well, fdr realized, is that the way to save america in the face. the great depression, as he told his friend, is we need to go fairly radical for at least a generation. and he did things even during world war two, which actually strengthened the new deal efforts. in fact, i think some historians are right to say maybe the maybe the war effort was like a third new deal. well, that's why, you know, as we move forward or think about again, the four freedoms speech between that speech is is so rich and rife, language and phrases are so important, it's hard to think of it as not being in inaugural address because it which would come to two weeks later, it has a has such a wealth of meaning in that it straddled these two or these two periods. right. the depression and world war two.

he quotes frederick douglass a lot. education means emancipation. believes that misconstruing, so whatt happens just really quick is the court where you can use vouchers for community schools, magnet schools, private schools and catholic and other religious schools. they believe that using it for catholic schools and private schools violate the establishment clause. justice thomas points out in a number of ways in the separate writing how it would be contorting the clause to say appearance choices governed by that. really simple terms. what i mean by that is the voucher program is such that the voucher went to the parents to use and u based off of it. one other thing i should mention is they can also choose to get a voucher not send their kids out of public schools but use it for tutoring. the program was aim to really enhance the educational opportunities for cleveland kids and give their parents essay. in fact they created a twitter page for the book. it's called the people's justice if you put it in twitter. the supreme court who overwhelmingly s

something was unprecedented at the time, but part of the idea to advance civil rights, including frederick douglass. he gives douglas a federal job. he advocates for service reformn he stands up to roscoe conkling. reconkling had this republican boss, he follows as the result of the actions of garfield. in the end, he was probably ther president most to credit for he meaningful silver service refore but not in the way that he would have chosen. in the lltrain station over to the weight of the college reunion, garfield is going to the platform and an insane man who was a disappointed office s speaker, charles kato, shoots om them twice from behind. and sadly, garfield probably would have been okay if the doctors had just left him alone. but, no. they kept poking and prodding him, with unsterilized instruments and their fingers, trying to find out where the bullet was. he gets badly infected and he lingers for months before dying. and although this of course is undeniably tragic, present garfield's death have been his biggest contribution to american politics. the shocking nature of a presidential as

the polly johnson house is the first home of frederick douglass when he escapes using ac man's protection waiver in order to travel safely to the north. mostly by rail and over land, but also using some waterborne means, as well. he comes in 1838 and he tries to find work using a skill that he was trained in, which was a cocker. wasn't able to do that, because the conquerors of new bedford were not open to the idea of working with a man of color, but within a few years after his arrival, the color line blurred and they were able to find work in new bedford by the 1840s. this is their protection paper for israel white and he was born and gives his birthplace and he was born sometime in 1799 , but in 1836, he receives a siemens protection paper. by the time he was born, he was in a slaveholding state, so there is a possibility he was born into slavery. i will wrap up pretty much there and reminding us that many of the skills that escaping african-americans would have had working on the waterfronts and in the vessels of the far south could be immediately put to work in new bedford in the 19t

the nathan and polly johnson house, in fact, is the first home of frederick della gillis -- frederick douglass when he uses a protection order to travel safely to the north, mostly by rail and overland, but also using water as well. he comes to new bedford in 1838. he tries to find work using the skill he was trained in, which was as a call. he was not able to do that, because they were not open to the idea of working with a man of color. within a few years of his arrival, the color line blurred, and he was able to find work in new bedford by the 1840s. this was a production paper for israel white. he gives his birthplace as little creek, delaware born sometime around 1799. in 1836 he receives a protection paper. at the time he was born in delaware, delaware was a slaveholding state. there is a very strong possibility that he was, in fact, born into slavery. i will wrap up pretty much there. just reminding us that many of the skills that escaping african americans would have had working on the waterfronts and in the vessels of the far south could be immediately put to work in new bedford in th

>> well, you know, it was frederick douglass who said that power concedes nothing without a struggle. going on now because if we can get more congressional seats by fair maps, by fairer maps, that will affect the change in balance in the house, in the house of representatives. and that's pretty important. but for me when i look at just the bare bone of what this is about we know that our state has a long storied history in racism and segregation and voter disenfranchisement. but we also come from a state of wonderful people, black and white, who gathered around and tried to do the right thing. they marched in order to desegregate. they also, you know, marched irrespective of what happened on that bridge, john lewis and those marchers marched and defied -- and really helped democracy get to where it is. they say that justice -- that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice but it doesn't get there by itself. it gets there by courageous people like those plaintiffs that filed this lawsuit. and i think incrementally we'll get there because this is really about political power.

find a means to make a living the nathan and polly johnson house in fact is the first home of frederick douglass when he escapes using a siemens protection paper in order to travel safely to the north mostly by rail and over land, but also using some waterborne means as well. he comes to new bedford in 1838 and he tries to find work using a skill that he was trained in which was as a cocker. he wasn't able to do that because the the cockers of new bedford were not open to the idea of working with a man of color but within a few years after his arrival the color line blurred and conquers were able to find work in new bedford by the by the 1840s. so this is a siemens protection paper for israel white in he was born he gives his birthplace as little creek delaware born sometime in 1799, but in 1836 he receives a a siemens protection paper at the time he would was born in delaware delaware was of course slave holding state and there's a very strong possibility that that he was in fact born into born into slavery. so i'll wrap up pretty much there. just reminding us that many of the skills that escap