Tag Archive

Frederick Douglass

We’re Still Not Talking about the Patriotism America Needs

In recent weeks, President Trump has spent a great deal of time articulating a specific and extreme vision of American patriotism. This vision asks us to remember and celebrate only the most idealized American histories and stories, and defines any deviation from those celebrations as nothing less than unpatriotic hate. Trump expressed this absolute form of patriotism in the September 17th speech announcing his “Patriotic Education” Commission, calling the New York Times’ 1619 Project “a crusade against American history,” “toxic propaganda,” and “a form of child abuse.” He claimed that “patriotic moms and dads are going to demand that their Read more

An American Boy

In My Bondage and My Freedom, published in 1855, Frederick Douglass revisits his own experiences as a youth who came to understand what it meant to be enslaved for life.  Read more

The Reformism of Fear

Two of the most famous aphorisms attesting to a “pessimism of the intellect/optimism of the will” mentality are, “Power concedes nothing without a demand” (Frederick Douglass), and “The master’s tools Read more