THE REVIEW OF COMMUNICATION
1 (2001): 93-96
© 2001 National Communication Association 

An Eloquent Life: The Rhetoric of Frederick Douglass in Biographical Perspective

Gary S. Selby

David B. Chesebrough. Frederick Douglass: Oratory from Slavery. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998. xviii + 176 pages. Notes, bibliography, and index. $62.50. 

In one of his earliest recorded speeches, Frederick Douglass told a Massachusetts audience that, for all they knew about slavery, the northern abolitionists “cannot speak as I can from experience; they cannot refer you to a back covered with scars, as I can; for I have felt these wounds; I have suffered under the lash without the power of resisting” (1841-46/1979, 3).  Spoken 160 years ago, his claim to authority—that he could address racial hostility and oppression with a passion and credibility born of personal experience—remains a compelling reason for granting him a hearing today.  As the title of his book suggests, David Chesebrough encourages that hearing by underscoring how the essential character of Douglass’s rhetoric grew out of his unique experience as a slave and a black man in nineteenth-century America.  His book contributes to a small but growing body of work on Douglass’s life and rhetoric published by communication scholars in the past five years. 

Chesebrough’s study is number twenty-six in the “Great American Orators” series published by Greenwood Press.  Launched in 1989 in response to what the series editors call “a paucity of book-length studies on individual orators and their speeches” (ix), the series is designed to provide students of public address with a general introduction to the rhetoric of a variety of important figures in American history.  In keeping with that design, the volumes typically offer a critical overview of the orator’s discourse, followed by the texts of some of his or her more important speeches.   

Reflecting the author’s desire to connect Douglass’s rhetoric with his experience, part 1 of the book, “The Development of an Orator,” offers a summary of Douglass’s life, divided into four chapters.  Chapter 1 recounts the years Douglass spent as a slave (1818-1837), highlighting the experiences that he would later use in his public discourse to illustrate the cruelty of slavery and the evils of racism.  Chapter 2 details his early career as an abolitionist orator, first with the Garrisonians and later as an independent lecturer and editor (1838-1861).  Chapter 3 focuses on his efforts during the Civil War to frame the conflict as, first and foremost, a war to end slavery, as well as on his campaign to enlist blacks in the Union effort (1861-1865).  Chapter 4 relates the final thirty years of his life (1861-1865), during which he achieved his greatest stature and influence as a statesman.  

Although quite brief (79 pages), Chesebrough’s account of Douglass’s life avoids the kind of oversimplification that one might expect in a treatment of this length.  He notes, for example, the tensions Douglass experienced with the Garrisonians’ philosophy from the beginning of his association with their movement.  He also introduces the reader to the breadth of topics Douglass addressed in his early career and explores Douglass’s fascination with violence as a tool for achieving social change.  Nevertheless, the author is unable in so brief an account to offer the kind of painstaking detail found in more extensive treatments (for example, Lampe’s Freedom’s Voice: Frederick Douglass, 1818-1845, also published in 1998), and, consequently, breaks little new ground.  The strength of part 1, rather, arises from its deft interweaving of passages from Douglass’s speeches with the account of Douglass’s life.  The result is a highly readable and remarkably compelling rhetorical biography.

Part 2, “Rhetorical Techniques and Speeches,” begins with a chapter that explores Douglass’s rhetorical strategies, divided into three subheadings, “ethos,” “pathos,” and “parallelism.”  While offering helpful insights to the beginning critic, this chapter is clearly the weakest part of the book.  The author employs neo-Aristotelian categories in a somewhat formulary manner to produce a catalog of Douglass’s rhetorical tactics, but falls short of truly illuminating Douglass’s creative genius as an orator.  As an example, the analysis of Douglass’s attempts to build credibility—clearly a relevant issue for a rhetor in his position—merely offers a list of techniques he frequently used, such as self-deprecation, references to personal experience, quotations from great literature, and historical allusions.  A much more robust account might have explored how Douglass creatively exploited these commonplace ethos-building tactics to address his particular rhetorical situation—for example, how he juxtaposed self-deprecation (references to his status as an uneducated former slave) with demonstrations of his knowledge of literature and history, as a strategy for challenging the identity ascribed to blacks in nineteenth-century American society.  Such possibilities are hinted at but not developed.  This chapter also suffers from problems with organization.  The author’s discussion of pathos includes mention of such stylistic techniques as personification and metaphor.  Yet, parallelism, a comparable stylistic technique that functions in support of both ethos and pathos, is treated as a separate category.  Irony is discussed under both pathos and parallelism.  Finally, the chapter ends with something of an addendum on Douglass’s “rhetorical presence and practice” (102) that deals with his appearance, manner, and voice quality.  This section would have made a natural addition to the discussion of ethos, but seems out of place here. 

The final chapter, “Speeches,” includes the complete text of three of Douglass’s important addresses, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” “Negroes and the National War Effort,” and “The Lessons of the Hour.”  The book concludes with a section of notes, a helpful chronology that includes the title, date, and place of delivery for some ninety of Douglass’s speeches, and a fairly extensive and well organized bibliography.

Given its purpose as an introductory text, Frederick Douglass: Oratory from Slavery will be of limited use to the scholar.  However, it is an excellent resource for the beginning student of public address, providing in one volume an overview of Douglass’s life with a chronology of many of his speeches, a brief critical analysis of his rhetoric, complete texts of three important addresses, and a bibliography that includes resources for further study.  More importantly, the author offers his readers a compelling encounter with this unique individual who both experienced and eloquently challenged America’s enduring legacy of racial hostility. 

Gary S. Selby is assistant professor of communication at The George Washington University. 

References

Douglass, F. (1979). Frederick Douglass papers: Series one: Speeches, debates, and interviews: Vol. 1, 1841-46. (J. Blasingame, Ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press. (Original work published 1841-46).

Lampe, G. P. (1998). Freedom’s voice: Frederick Douglass, 1818-1845. East Lansing:  Michigan State University Press.