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Frederick Douglass and the Struggle for the Memory of the Civil War Author(S): David W

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Frederick Douglass and the Struggle for the Memory of the Civil War Author(S): David W "For Something beyond the Battlefield": Frederick Douglass and the Struggle for the Memory of the Civil War Author(s): David W. Blight Source: The Journal of American History, Vol. 75, No. 4 (Mar., 1989), pp. 1156-1178 Published by: Organization of American Historians Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1908634 . Accessed: 01/12/2014 14:28 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Organization of American Historians is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of American History. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 64.9.56.53 on Mon, 1 Dec 2014 14:28:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ForSomething beyond the Battlefield":Frederick Douglass and the Strugglefor the Memory of the Civil War David W. Blight Fellowcitizens: I am not indifferentto the claimsof a generousforgetfulness, but whateverelse I mayforget, I shall neverforget the differencebetween thosewho foughtfor liberty and thosewho foughtfor slavery; between those who foughtto save the Republicand thosewho foughtto destroyit. -FrederickDouglass, "Decoration Day," 1894 We fellunder the leadershipof thosewho wouldcompromise with truth in the past in orderto makepeace in the presentand guide policyin the future. -W. E. B. Du Bois, BlackReconstruction, 1935 What you have as heritage, Takenow as task; For thusyou will makeit yourown. -Goethe, Faust, 1808 In thefirst week ofJanuary 1883, on thetwentieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation,a distinguishedgroup of blackleaders held a banquetin Washing- ton, D.C., to honorthe nineteenthcentury's most prominent Afro-American in- tellectual,Frederick Douglass. The banquetwas an act ofveneration for Douglass, an acknowledgmentof the agingabolitionist's indispensable role in the CivilWar era,a ritualof collective celebration, and an opportunityto forgehistorical memory and transmitit acrossgenerations. The nearlyfifty guests comprised a who'swho of blackleadership in the middleand late nineteenthcentury. For the moment, rivalriesand ideologicaldisputes were suppressed. Sen. BlancheK. Brucechaired the event. RobertSmalls, Edward Blyden,the ReverendBenjamin T. Tanner, David W. Blightis assistantprofessor of history and Afro-Americanstudies at HarvardUniversity. An earlierversion of thisarticle was delivered at theannual meeting of theOrganization of AmericanHistorians, Reno, Nev., March 26, 1988. For theirmany helpful criticisms and suggestions,the authorwishes to thankDaniel Aaron,Susan Armeny,Karin Beckett,Ira Berlin,Richard Blackett, Randall Burkett,Melvin Dixon, David HerbertDonald, GenevieveFabre, Nathan 1. Huggins,Michael Kammen, Alan Levy,Waldo E. Martin,David Thelen,Clarence Walker,the reviewers for the Journal of American History, and especiallythe members of theWorking Group on Historyand Memoryin Afro-AmericanCulture, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute,Harvard University. 115, This content downloaded from 64.9.56.53 on Mon, 1 Dec 2014 14:28:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FrederickDouglass and theMemory of the Civil War 1157 * ' .' ' ' . ., ; . ... .. .. X;.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~....'I ..... ProfesorRihard . Grener, he yong hitoria Geore Wasingto Wi:ritlliams, gressmen.tt oiiinbsos joralss and buDstinesm n Vrtalyevr This content downloaded from 64.9.56.53 on Mon, 1 Dec 2014 14:28:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 1158 TheJournal of AmericanHistory southernstate and sixnorthern states were represented. After a sumptuousdinner, numeroustoasts were offered to Douglass,and to nearlyevery major aspect of black life:to "thecolored man as a legislator";to "theNegro press"; to "the Negroau- thor";to "theRepublican Party"; and so forth.Douglass himself finally ended the joyousround of toastsby offering one of his own:to "thespirit of the youngmen" bywhom he wassurrounded. Many of the mostdistinguished guests had come of age onlysince the Civil War. For them slavery, abolitionism, and eventhe war itself werethe historybeyond memory. Douglass had capturedan essentialmeaning of theoccasion; the young had gatheredin tributeto theold. As theymet to celebrate and to understandthe pivotal event in theirhistory-emancipation -the meaning of thatevent was being passed to a new generationof black leaders.' In his formalremarks at the banquet,Douglass demonstratedthat during the lastthird of his life(he livedfrom 1818 until 1895), a distinguishingfeature of his leadershipwas his quest to preservethe memoryof the Civil War as he believed blacksand the nationshould remember it. Douglass viewedemancipation as the centralreference point of blackhistory. Likewise the nation,in his judgment,had no greaterturning point, nor a betterdemonstration of nationalpurpose. On the twentiethanniversary, Douglass soughtto infuseemancipation and the warwith thesacred and mythicqualities that he had alwaysattributed to them."This high festival. ," Douglass declared, "is coupled with a day which we do well to hold in sacredand everlastinghonor, a daymemorable alike in thehistory of the nation and in the lifeQf an emancipatedpeople." Emancipation day, he believed,ought to be a nationalcelebration in whichall blacks- the low and the mighty-could claima newand securesocial identity. But it wasalso an "epoch"full of lessons about themeaning of historicalmemory. "Reflection upon it (emancipation)opens to us a vastwilderness of thoughtand feeling,"Douglass asserted."Man is said to be an animallooking before and after.To him alone is giventhe propheticvision, en- abling him to discernthe outlineof his futurethrough the mistsof the past." Douglasschallenged his fellowblack leaders to rememberthe CivilWar with awe. "The daywe celebrate,"he said, "affordsus an eminencefrom which we mayin a measuresurvey both the past and thefuture. It is one ofthose days which may well countfor a thousandyears." This was more than mere banquet rhetoric.It was Douglass'sattempt to inspirehis colleagueswith the idea RobertPenn Warren would laterexpress when he wrotethat "the Civil War is our onlyfelt history- historylived in the nationalimagination."2 Douglass'seffort to forgememory into action that could somehow save the legacy of the CivilWar for blacks-freedom, citizenship, suffrage, and dignity-cameat a timewhen the nationappeared indifferent or hostileto thatlegacy. The richly I People'sAdvocate, Jan. 6, 1883,Leon GardinerCollection (Historical Society of Pennsylvania,Philadelphia). The banquetwas organizedby ProfessorJ. M. Gregoryof HowardUniversity. 2 Ibid; RobertPenn Warren, The Legacy of the Civil War:Meditations on the Centennial(Cambridge, Mass., 1983),4. Douglass'simagery here reflects his apocalyptic view of history. On hisapocalyptic conception of the Civil War,see David W. Blight,"Frederick Douglass and the AmericanApocalypse," Civil WarHistory, 31 (Dec. 1985), 309-28. This content downloaded from 64.9.56.53 on Mon, 1 Dec 2014 14:28:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FrederickDouglass and theMemory of the Civil War 1159 symbolicemancipation day banquet of 1883 occurredonly monthsbefore the UnitedStates Supreme Court struck down the CivilRights Act of 1875,sacrificing the CivilWar amendments, as the dissentingJusticeJohnMarshall Harlan put it, and openingthe door for the eventual triumph of Jim Crow laws across the South. The rulingin UnitedStates v. Stanley,better known as the CivilRights Cases, declaredthat the equal protectionclause of the FourteenthAmendment applied onlyto states;a personwronged by racial discrimination, therefore, could look for redressonly from state laws and courts.In effect,the decision would also meanthat thediscriminatory acts of privatepersons were beyond the safeguards of the Four- teenthAmendment. At a mass meetingin Washington,D.C., immediatelyafter thedecision, Douglass tried to capturethe sense of outrage felt by his people. "We have been, as a class,grievously wounded, wounded in the house of our friends," Douglass proclaimed.In the SupremeCourt's decision, Douglass saw "a studied purposeto degradeand stampout the liberties of a race.It is theold spiritof slavery, and nothingelse."3 Douglassinterpreted the CivilRights Cases as a failureof historical memory and nationalcommitment. Reflecting on theSupreme Court decision in hisfinal autobi- ography,Douglass contended that "the future historian will turn to the year1883 to findthe mostflagrant example of thisnational deterioration." White racism, among individualsand in nationalpolicy, he remarked,seemed to increasein proportionto the "increasingdistance from the time of thewar." Douglass blamed not onlythe "fadingand defacingeffects of time,"but moreimportant, the spirit ofreconciliation between North and South.Justice and libertyfor blacks, he main- tained,had lostground from "the hourthat the loyalNorth . began to shake handsover the bloodychasm."4 Thus, Douglass saw the SupremeCourt decision as partof a disturbingpattern of historical change. Historical memory, he had come to realize,was not merelyan entityaltered by
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