On the Road with a Young Frederick Douglass …

By John Addyman

 

You might think it will take some effort to get excited about Frederick Douglass.

Until you spend about 10 minutes learning just how unusually gifted the man was and how important he is to this area, to New York, to people everywhere who yearn to live their lives chasing and finding the joy to be free.

There’s a marker near his grave in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester. It states: “Frederick Douglass. 1818-1895. Escaped slave, abolitionist, suffragist, journalist and statesman. Founder of the Civil Rights Movement in America.”

He lived here from 1847-1872, longer than anywhere else.

Dougas arrived here after spending two years in England, touring and lecturing about the evils of slavery that he knew first-hand.

In Rochester, he published the “North Star” newspaper. He spoke. He advocated. He wrote.

John J. Hanrahan, a New Englander who now lives in Virginia, has written a new book about Douglass, a tour guide of the life of a young slave growing up in Maryland … how his family was torn apart and scattered piecemeal, how he suffered under oppression and how he managed to get an education in bits and pieces and to escape.

“This book is designed to help readers know Douglass better by spending a few days on the Eastern Shore or in Baltimore —ideally both,” Hanrahan wrote. “More and more, Americans — and particularly mature Americans — want to blend relaxation and inspiration-education as they travel.”

In writing “Traveling Freedom’s Road: Frederick Douglass in Maryland,” Hanrahan is your guide and co-pilot on a trip through small towns, country roads, lovely waterways and quiet museums. As the miles go by, the picture of 19th century life is teased out and a young Frederick Douglass emerges.

Hanrahan is your patient friend, providing turn-by-turn details of places that Douglass went through 195 years ago, showing you what only your imagination can grasp when buildings and waterways and forests are gone. He references Google Maps and car GPS readings with line-of-sight directions.

Following the book and taking notes, you’ll spend two days on the eastern shore and at least one more day in Baltimore. Along the way, you’ll feel Douglass’ presence through his words that Hanrahan has chosen as accompaniment. There’s a lot to digest — take along a highlighter and some sticky notes because the book is chockablock with things you’ll want to reflect on at the end of the day.

“I like how the book is interspersed with Douglass’ own words,” said Rev. Julius Jackson Jr. of the Pittsford United Church. “Through the narrative of Douglass, you can envision what he saw at that time. The book shows and describes what those sites look like now, so you get both sides of the coin — this is the exact location —this is what Douglass saw back then, what his words were, what was going on at that time.

“There’s one area in the book that talks about various places that were waterways that are no longer there. So, if you’re walking down the street, you’re thinking, ‘Douglass was doing this, that or something else on these waterways.’ You would not even be aware that this was once a waterway, but as time goes on, things change. I liked that aspect of it.”

Jackson has spent 15 years working to raise awareness of Douglass in Rochester. With his brothers in the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, he devoted his early years fundraising for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, attending the groundbreaking ceremony on his birthday in 2006 — along with a young Senator Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Ambassador Andrew Young, Tommy Hilfiger and others.

Ambassador Young, a fraternity brother, said from the stage that day, “Today we turn the dirt for Martin; go back to your homes and turn the dirt there.”

“That was a light bulb for me,” Jackson said. “I thought, ‘I need to go home and do something there. I started the work for Douglass. I started having little events at the Mount Hope Cemetery for Douglass. Many people don’t know he is buried there.

“I started the first Frederick Douglass day. My Alpha brothers locally would go out and recognize Douglass each Dec 27. I go out and put roses on his grave. Yellow roses are our fraternity’s rose (Douglass was posthumously accepted as a brother in 1921).

Jackson and others got help from Monroe County Legislator Harry Bronson and the Douglass statue dwelling quietly in Highland Park was moved, illuminated and a plaza constructed around it.

“Then I proposed renaming the airport,” Jackson said. “I almost got laughed out of town about the airport, but in 2021, that effort, with help from Richard Glaser and Adam Bello, reached fruition as the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport.”

With events of the last 10 years bringing African American historic leaders into deeper focus, Hanrahan wrote “Traveling Freedom’s Road: A guide to Exploring Our Civil Rights History,” deciding from that book’s reception to dive deeply into one of its prime movers — Frederick Douglass.

Settle in at one of the sites you’ve tracked through the text and Hanrahan puts you in the mood to understand how a young man would feel in Douglass’ situation. The environments come to life with Hanrahan’s descriptions and backstories. Then he inserts Douglass’ own words from his many writings and the picture fills in.

Jackson noted that there were “proximity” discoveries in the book, where Douglass came through an area when he was younger, only to return to within steps of that earlier place years later, with a different perspective or a complete different role in his life.

You see where Douglass lived and what he faced day after day. You wonder how he could conquer all the hard-bitten attitudes and privations. And you hear him observing his situations and thinking them through in his own words. It almost seems like the book, as travelogue, is best used with a friend or three. It isn’t hard to imagine a nice dinner at the end of a touring day, talking about what you saw and reading again some of Douglass’ words. That’s the blend of relaxation, inspiration, reflection and education that Hanrahan sees in his potential audience.

Rev. Jackson had one of those reflections.

“I did not know or somehow forgot that Douglass came back and somehow reconciled with his slave master, Capt. Auld,” Jackson said. “That, to me, was mind-blowing that he was able to have those kinds of conversations. It wasn’t filled with hate or rage. Douglass was able to forgive.

“That’s a good religious lesson on forgiveness, that Douglass and Capt. Auld could come together. We should all be able to come together, no matter what side of the aisle we sit on. I was inspired by the book. I would love to have something similar for all the stops in Rochester for Douglass.”