Frederick Douglass

What more can be said about Frederick Douglass that has not already been said either by him in his autobiographies or in the numerous biographies written by various scholars? D. H. Dilbeck claims that these narratives do not emphasize Douglass’ religiosity. Dilbeck says, “My goal is to explain the substance of Douglass’ faith and show how it shaped his public career” (p. 4). Dilbeck’s biographical study is guided by three questions: “How and why did Douglass come to embrace a distinctly prophetic Christianity? What were the core moral and theological convictions of this faith and how did they evolve over time? How did his prophetic Christian religion inform his public activism, first against slavery and later against all forms of racial and gender discrimination?” (p. 6). Towards the aim of answering these three questions, Dilbeck’s book is divided into three parts. Part I, chapters 1–3, covers the years 1818–1838. This is the period of Douglass’ birth into slavery, conversion to Christianity, and escape from slavery. Douglass’ enslavement was on a Maryland Eastern Shore plantation and in Baltimore City, with each setting having its expressions of cruelty in exploitation of black labor, physical abuse, denial of education and the freedom of assembly, and family separations. Dilbeck notes that, while in Baltimore at age 13, Douglass converted to Christianity and was nurtured in Christian faith by African American Methodists. During this period, Douglass would develop his theodicy wherein evil men and women, not God, are responsible for slavery. In Douglass’ fight against Edward Covey, the reputed “Negro breaker,” he would learn the moral responsibility of resisting evil. Later, Douglass’ enslavement would end as a result of his own decision and act, possibly inspired by his religious faith, to escape.

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