Frederick Douglass

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1947

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Background

Historic Context

“Frederick Douglass” first appeared as part of The Atlantic’s year-long commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Douglass’s death. It is a matter of debate, however, whether the actual historic figure of Frederick Douglass is necessary to appreciate the poem’s argument. Douglass, a fugitive from slavery turned fiery orator, passionate journalist, and tireless freedom fighter, never shied away from defending the inalienable rights of every American—among them Black people, Indigenous groups, women, and immigrants—to enjoy the protection and guarantees of the Constitution. Save for the single reference to Douglass (Line 7), the poem uses the historic figure more as an embodiment of the human will to be free, the determination to never let the idea of freedom falter or be lost to particular historic circumstances. This figure, “this man, superb in love and logic” (Line 10), becomes at once a representative voice in the long American fight for equal rights and a pivotal figure in the evolution of humanity toward a better, more tolerant future.

The sympathy and respect Hayden felt for Douglass, suggested by how Hayden selected a line for this poem to be put on his tomb, reflects Hayden’s own belief, in the earliest days of what would become a fierce and divisive national showdown over the idea of Black rights and the definition of freedom in America, that institutions were better entrusted with the evolution of humanity than the unpredictable and erratic actions of individuals. Hayden uses the historic context of Frederick Douglass to affirm what Douglass preached: the moral suasion of righteousness itself, that humanity will not brook the heinous immorality of Black oppression. With this type of thinking, the apparatus of America can be, will be, tuned to a world where “none is lonely, none hunted, alien” (Line 9).

Cultural Context

Robert Hayden is recognized as much for his command of the subtle nuances of traditional (read white) prosody as for his daring vision of humanity moving inevitably toward radical and profound change. Though Hayden’s cultural marker begins with the civil rights movement itself, Hayden was a prominent Black poet whose career was defined against and as part of mid-20th-century white American culture. This whiteness, for better or worse, defines much of Hayden’s achievements and opens his legacy to criticism based on allegiance.

Despite establishing a significant professional career in academia that at the time was not particularly noted for attracting, much less rewarding, Black talent, Hayden was familiar firsthand with the struggle for Black identity and integrity. He grew up during the Depression in one of Detroit’s most impoverished Black neighborhoods. Moreover, he nurtured an entire generation of young Black students interested in pursuing writing to give voice to their discontent at the HBCU Fisk University. For most of his professional life, however, Hayden faced charges of not being sympathetic enough to the Black movement and to its incendiary rhetoric. This rhetoric promoted confrontation, anger, and community disruptions as key elements in provoking real and immediate change in racist America.

Hayden never defined himself as a Black poet but rather as an American poet, reflecting his belief in the larger scope of his work that reflected as much his interest (and commitment) to Black civil rights as his Baha’i faith and its world-embracing vision of humanity evolving toward harmony through a unity that will be inevitable and glorious. He refused to perceive his poetry as “racial utterances,” as he often caustically said, nor did he measure the reach of his vision against the metrics of Blackness and whiteness or even America itself. How much more difficult for Black America would be the patience to anticipate Hayden’s vision now? In a post-millennium world, more than 60 years after the soaring rhetoric of Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 speech during the March on Washington, racism is still such a fundamental part of the American identity. In America’s current cultural climate, Hayden’s vision might seem more than antiquated.