Douglass, not Lincoln, bolsters GOP

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Signet Classics), 2005

Signet commissioned this for a 2005 reissue of the Narrative. The post-1845 Douglass is a more complete, arguably more interesting human being, it argues. The public memory of the iconic early Douglass is part of a typically myopic pattern. We get Martin King Jr.’s ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech, but not his later critique of the United States as ‘‘the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.’’ Malcolm X in his early fistshaking, ‘‘white man is the devil’’ mode endures; the later Malcolm, the internationalist coalition builder, is too complex for those who still think in black and white. The global media have enshrined Bob Marley as the prophet of ‘‘One Love,’’ mostly ignoring more radical messages in songs like ‘‘War’’ or ‘‘Revolution.’’ With Frederick Douglass, we get the the heroic slave rising up to fight off Covey, the slave breaker. But we get little or nothing about Douglass as feminist, as an international celebrity, as a Republican Party functionary and diplomat in the Caribbean, or as a lifelong, determined opponent of the ‘‘diseased imagination’’ of racial categories. This essay outlines those and other themes in Douglass' mature work.

Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 2000

Reviews in American History, 2008

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Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 2010

In this essay I analyze the debate over Abraham Lincoln’s role in the emancipation of African American slaves. Speaking both to contemporary public memory and the evidence of history, I contend that when Lincoln discussed or wrote about emancipation between 1860 and 1863, his rhetoric exhibited a dialogic form that shifted responsibility from the president to congressional leaders and common citizens. I conclude that Lincoln’s dialogic rhetoric does not signal his opposition to emancipation but rather his deep belief that emancipation would become meaningful only afer the considered deliberation and action of the American people.

Comparative American Studies, Vol. 13 No. 3, 2015

Frederick Douglass' reframing of monuments about American slavery is prophetic. This revisionist view applies an “interracial turn” lens to Douglass’ 1876 Freedmen's Monument Speech. After sketching interracial dynamics in Douglass' career, visual rhetoric in this oration is examined. Read through a history of Douglass’ relationships with white men, the speech constitutes a performative resolution of Douglass’ “white man problem.” A historically situated reading of Douglass’ rhetoric reveals the maturity of his political thought, which calls on future audiences to reassess Douglass' identity, and legacy. A “revised Douglass” charted a path by which we could revise our own “white male problem.” Douglass’ model is timely, given recurring episodes of interracial violence, and the unrest they spark. As a figure who battled racialism and lived a “more attractive alternative,” Douglass legitimates an “interracial turn” in fields including American Studies, communication, ethnography, rhetorical studies, and literary criticism.

Communication Studies Vol. 48, 1997

Frederick Douglass spoke to a multiracial public sphere by engaging in "antagonistic cooperation" with white and black abolitionists. He served as an "integrative ancestor" for all those trying to help build a multiracial democracy. Douglass' interracial rhetoric was developed to engage the different constituents of his multiracial audiences. I examine some rhetorical strategies Douglass employed in his "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?” speech order to communicate with the different constituents of his multiracial audience. Since many of these strategies were derived from Bible stories and Enlightenment/ "natural rights" philosophy, I focus on the streams of Christian and political egalitarianism which fed Douglass' vision, with three main goals: 1) to give a sense of Douglass' stature in his own time; 2) to deepen our understanding of Douglass' biracial identity and political philosophy, and of how this makes him an "integrative ancestor"; and 3) to illustrate the continuing timeliness of Douglass' critique of American racialism.

While most African Americans identify with the Democratic Party, a small minority chooses to identify and support the party of Lincoln. However, very little is known about the demographic make-up or policy preferences of these individuals. Utilizing the 1992-2002 American National Election Studies, we provide a multivariate analysis of the demographic characteristics and policy leanings of African American Republicans. Our analysis suggests several systematic patterns regarding African Americans' Republican Party identification. First, as with the general population, we find they are more likely to be male, from the South and to identify themselves as conservatives. However, unlike the general population, we find they are not more likely to maintain upper or middle incomes or to view religion as an important guide in their life. Third, we find African Americans born after 1950 are more likely to identify themselves as Republican. Fourth, we find African American Republicans feel less warmth toward blacks than the majority of their brethren and are less likely to view race or social welfare issues as significant problems in America. Ultimately, we conclude racial issues are still the key to understanding African American Partisanship.

Michigan Law Review, 1993

Abraham Lincoln remains the great enigma of American history. [FN1] When nominated for the presidency he seemed almost laughable. An uneducated hick from the plains of Illinois, Lincoln was too tall, too awkward, and far too homely. He had made some impressive speeches while campaigning for the nomination, and he was "unsurpassed when it came to elucidating the moral principles and goals of Republicanism." [FN2] But it was still hard to take this unpolished prairie lawyer seriously. The abolitionist Wendell Phillips, who was also a Harvard-trained lawyer, asked: "Who is this huckster in politics ... this county court advocate?" [FN3] Never had so inexperienced a man seriously competed for the presidency. His resume was spare: a one-term congressman, a failed candidate for the Senate, and a successful but hardly imposing railroad lawyer. Phillips concluded that the Republican candidate was "a first-rate second-rate man." [FN4] In 1860, within the Republican Party, Lincoln was a moderate, at best, on race and slavery. More prominent party leaders, like William H. Seward and Salmon P. Chase, actively opposed slavery. As governors, both had refused to extradite to the South free blacks who were wanted for helping slaves escape to their states. [FN5] As lawyers, they had *1354 represented abolitionists accused of aiding runaway slaves. [FN6] Chase was involved in so many slavery cases that he was known as the "Attorney General for Fugitive Slaves." [FN7] Lincoln hated slavery and opposed its spread to new territories, but unlike most leading Republicans, he still advocated colonization of former slaves outside the United States, and he opposed political rights for free blacks. Moreover, as an attorney he had never been terribly scrupulous about the cases he took. In 1841 he successfully helped a black woman gain her freedom, [FN8] but six years later -when men like Chase and Seward were solidifying their reputations as powerful antislavery advocates -Lincoln represented a slaveowner trying to regain custody of a slave he had brought to Illinois. [FN9] As a congressman, Lincoln proposed a bill allowing Washington D.C. officials to return fugitive slaves to southern masters. [FN10] As a presidential candidate, he did not demand repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law. Small wonder Wendell Phillips called Lincoln " t he Slave-Hound of Illinois." In 1860 Lincoln's greatest qualification for the presidency was his availability. The leading contenders were either too radical or too conservative to have any chance of winning the general election. Not part of any Republican faction, he "had no ideological image within the party." [FN12] Lincoln's obscurity worked in his favor, gaining him the nomination, virtually all of the North's electoral votes, and the election.

2019

In my paper, I examined the relationship between Barack Obama's 2008 election and subsequent presidency with the concept of a Post-Racial society. I examined his biracial childhood in Indonesia and Hawaii, his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the importance of the "More Perfect Union" speech and the Birther movement. I also analyzed Obama's deracialization strategy and how it impacted white voters as well as voters of color. I concluded the paper with an examination of Obama's legacy as the nation's first African-American president and what that means for the future of race relations and the ultimate goal of a Post-Racial society.

This article presents over 200 "coincidences" (i.e., synchronicities) between the lives and assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. Also included is a large number of photographic evidence comparing individuals in the lives of both U.S. Presidents showing how their relatives and associates have similar appearances and frequently the same names. For example, JOHN A. KENNEDY was the security chief of Abraham LINCOLN who uncovered the 1861 plot to assassinate Lincoln and played an investigative role when Lincoln was assassinated. JOHN F. KENNEDY had a secretary named Evelyn LINCOLN whose husband was named Harold "Abe" LINCOLN and who was in the motorcade when Kennedy was assassinated. Photographs of both Evelyn Lincoln and John A. Kennedy look remarkably similar.