Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches

A much needed work but poorly produced. The documentary would have been better served if the entirety of the speeches were read and then commentary given. To interrupt this great man's speeches does him and the viewer a great disservice. The title of the documentary gives the impression of being about Frederick Douglass so a better production would have left the political biases and personal opinions of the speakers and producer on the cutting room floor.

It is hard for me to believe that a man this powerful and significant to American history is not a household name. He led the abolitionist movement, much like Harriet Tubman led the underground railroad, and Martin Luther King led the civil rights movement. Born a slave in 1818, there was no template for a Black man in America being treated as a human being. He created it! He not only insisted upon his humanity as a slave who could be killed for looking a white person in the face, but he basically became a king gracing the cover of our equivalent to Time magazine while most Black people were still slaves! The man was a monument of accomplishment and pride. Omg please watch this documentary and give it 10 stars. The bizarrely low rating is clearly a result of the racism and anger towards Black excellence and the telling of stories of our greatness.

Several actors do an excellent reading of five of Douglass' speeches, with biographical perspectives interwoven into a story. Henry Louis Gates did a good job as one of the producers and narrators. Definitely worth the hour to watch.

As someone who has read the book this documentary is based on, it leaves out a great deal of information. For starters, he chose his name as Frederick Douglass when he was coming into his own. He struggled greatly with who his family, and specifically who his father was. Ultimately moving on from this unknown. The most amazing aspect was his forgiveness. He started his career with full of passion and fight in him to change America to the point of him stating this wasn't his country. He changed this thought as stating "This is our country" and to go even further to forgive his slave master.

As for his political association, he didn't believe in any of them before Lincoln. He needed to see proof the Republican Party could measure up to their promises made. He wholly despised the Democratic Party due to their stance on slavery. And after the war was ended, he was against reparations to previous slaves as he wanted them to find their own confidence that he himself found as a free, thinking man.

In the book it also states the relation to Andrew Johnson and how AJ gave way to the rise of the KKK thus beginning the unravel of all the work that was accomplished during Lincoln's presidency.

A great wealth of information and structured very well. Unfortunately, the producers & directors decided to mirror the speeches in a format similar to todays Def Poetry style.

Just reading the words is not enough. The tone, speed, and inflections used was critical to FDs oratory brilliance. People wrote about his delivery and the fact that information is freely available was not utilized for stylistic reasons and being hip was also unfortunate.