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Frederick Douglass: an American Adult Educator The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Spring 5-2010 Frederick Douglass: An American Adult Educator Jerry Paul Ross University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Adult and Continuing Education Administration Commons, Other Education Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Ross, Jerry Paul, "Frederick Douglass: An American Adult Educator" (2010). Dissertations. 950. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/950 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi FREDERICK DOUGLASS: ANAMEruCANADULTEDUCATOR by Jerry Paul Ross Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi iin Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements May 2010 ABSTRACT FREDERJCK DOUGLASS: AN AMERJCAN ADULT EDUCATOR by Jerry Paul Ross May 2010 Throughout his I ife, Frederick Douglass struggled to be something extraordinary. He rose from a life in slavery to become the most prominent African-American of his day and a leading figure in the abolitionist movement. Lost in the discussion of his life are the adult education roles that he played throughout his life and career. Beginning while he was still a slave and extending until his death, he worked to educate adults in order to transfonn individual lives and society as a whole. Douglass was primarily engaged in adult education in the fields of religious adult education, social movements, popular education, and political activism. II COPYRIGHT BY JERRY PAUL ROSS 2010 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer would like to thank the dissertation director, Dr. John Rachal, and the other members of the committee, Dr. Lilian Hill, Dr. Thomas O'Brien, and Dr. Willie Pierce, for their guidance and encouragement throughout this project. Their inspiration and guidance helped me as I conducted the research and wrote the final product. The foundation they provided in cla~:s and discussions helped to make this all possible. In addition, I would like to thank the faculty, stafT, and students of the University Libraries for their assistance getting the information for this project. Finally, my colleagues in the College of Arts and Letters have provided scholarly and emotional support throughout the project. lll TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTP~CT ....................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. iii CHAPTER I. ADULT EDUCATION AND DOUGLASS' STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM .................................................................................................. 1 Statement of Problem Connection to Adult Education Douglass' Early Life and Education Statement of Hypothesis Literature Review Plan of Work Conclusion II. ADULT EDUCATION BY CHALLENGING FAITH ............................ 34 Religious Adult Education Early Educational Moments Douglass the Preacher? Speeches and Writings on the Subject Conclusion III. i\DULT EDUCATION THROUGH SOCIAL MOVEMENTS ............... 58 Douglass in the UK Moving to New York and Changing a Social Movement Speeches and Writings Related to Abolitionism Conclusion IV. ADULT EDUCATION THROUGH POPULAR EDUCATION .............. 88 African-Ameiican and Anti-Slavery Presses Starting a Paper in Rochester Using the Press to Advance the Cause Conclusion V. POLITICAL ACTIVISM AS ADULT EDUCATION ........................... 110 Politics and Adult Education IV Relationship with Lincoln Political Speeches and Writings Conclusion VI . HOW IN LINE WITH ADULT EDUCATION WAS FREDERICK DOUGLASS? .......................................................................................... 136 Douglass and the Lyceum Douglass and Adult Education Theory and Methods Conclusion REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 163 v 1 CHAPTER I ADULT EDUCATION AND DOUGLASS' STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM "Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are those who want crops without plowing up the ground-they want rain without thunder and lightning."1 Although adult education is a relatively young field, the practice of adult education has existed for centuries. Because adult education has only existed as an academic discipline and an organized field of practice since the early twentieth century, it is useful to explore the historical roots of adult education in order to provide a broader understanding of the discipline. Setting this foundation will only serve to strengthen the discipline and help the scholars in the field understand where we have come from as a discipline. Adult education takes on many forms and is provided by different institutions and a variety of people in a multitude of settings. One way to explore the history of adult education is to look at how those who have not traditionally been considered adult educators have worked to educate adults. Many individuals, who seemingly have no connection to adult education, have engaged in adult education as both learners and as teach_ers~ One person whose life is worth examining from the perspective of adult education is Frederick Douglass. Douglass was the most prominent nineteenth century African- American and his life has been explored through a variety of ways. Prior research, although extensive, has ignored the educational role of Douglass' work. Douglass has gone by many titles including abolitionist, orator, journalist, and diplomat. One label that is not used is educator and certainly not adult educator. Douglass took on many causes 1. Benjamin Quarles, Frederick Douglass (Washington, DC: The Associated Publishers, 1948), 121. 2 and issues during his life, and his approach led him to try to influence and educate his readers and listeners. In this research project, I detail Douglass' role as an adult educator through a variety of means and venues. My project will not be purely biographical, although that will be part of it, but rather I will try to situate Frederick Douglass' life and work within adult education primarily through the areas of religion, abolitionism, journalism, and political activism. In each of these four areas, I show how Douglass' work was adult education and which contemporary adult education theories most appropriately apply to his speeches and writings. From his time as a slave, through his illustrious life and career, Douglass was engaged in adult education whether it was fully intentional or not. Statement of Problem It is my belief that Douglass made significant contributions to the history of adult education and by exploring this history, the field of adult education will be stronger. Frederick Douglass, whose original name v1as Frederick Augustus V/ashington Bailey, was born a slave in Talbot Count-y, Maryland in 1818, and his time in bondage also took Sophia Auld, the wife of his master, aided him by beginning to teach him to read until her husband, Hugh Auld, made her stop. He also learned how to read and write through watching others write and by persuading white children into helping him learn to read. The rest of his education was completely on his own and would continue throughout his entire life. Douglass also educated himself through the Columbian Orator and this collection of speeches, poems, and essays greatly influenced his speaking and writing styie. Whiie he was stili a siave, Douglass engaged in his first efforts to educate others. 3 He established two different Sabbath schools and had more than thirty slaves of different ages participate in the schools, which primarily focused on learning to read the New Testament although later his focus shifted more towards general literacy. Once he escaped to freedom at the age of twenty, Douglass quickly became a star on the abolitionist speaking circuit. It was said by Douglass' neighbor in Rochester, New York, "Frederick Douglass had his education in four great schools, graduating from one to the other in natural sequence and with honors- Methodism, Garrisonism, Journalism, and Political Campaignism. "2 In each of these components of his life, Douglass not only received education, but also sought to educate others. These four areas of Douglass' life serve as the organizational framework for this dissertation and the chapters in it. His powerful oratory skills were perfectly suited to Douglass' educational efforts. Douglass was also an influential speaker on the Lyceum circuit during the 1850s into the 1870s and arguably he represented the most important African-American who participated in the Lyceum. Douglass' writing career was also highly educational as his autobiographies put a well as work as a journalist and editor. His three autobiographies were written during his time in freedom and describe his life from different perspectives. Each of these autobiographies provides information on different aspects of his life in slavery and in freedom as well as his views on the state of African-Americans in the United States. Early in his life of freedom, Douglass began writing for William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator. This gave him a taste for journalism that led him to found the North Star, 2.
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