December 20, 2024 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Frederick Douglass escaped slavery when he was 20 and went on to become one of the most important Americans to fight for emancipation and the equality of all people. He was the most photographed American of the 19th century, sitting for more portraits than even Abraham Lincoln. But this famed abolitionist’s story is even more fascinating than what many of us have learned in school. Here to tell the story is Frederick Douglass impersonator, Kyle Taylor
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Frederick Douglas escaped slavery when he was twenty years old,
went on to become one of the most important Americans
to fight for emancipation and the equality of all people.
He was the most photographed American of the nineteenth century,
(00:32):
sitting for more portraits even than Abraham Lincoln. But this
famed abolitionist's story is even more fascinating than what many
of us have learned in school. Here to tell the
story is Frederick Douglas, impersonator Kyle Taylor. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I was born a slave in America, in the state
of Maryland, and the Lord has given me mini advnkshures
since my escape from those bonds. I suppose myself to
be born about the year eighteen seventeen. I will recount
as part of my message a few excerpts from my
(01:11):
books regarding.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
My childhood and my life journey.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
A mysterious individual was the object of terror for me
as a small child among the inhapbinants of our little cabin.
He was under the ominous title of Old Master, had
several farms and overseas on it. Unhappily for me, the
(01:42):
only information I could gather concerning him only increase my
great dread of being carried thither as a seven year
old boy, of being deprived and separated from the protection
of my loving grandparents.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So you see it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
To remain little forever, For I knew that the taller
I grew, the shorter my stay would be, and the
only home I ever had.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
But I was not to remain there long. I was
soon to be taken to the Old master House.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I was a slave, And although this fact was incomprehensible
to me, it conveyed to my mind. And since my
entire dependence was at the will of somebody I had
never seen, and for some cause or other, I was
made to fear this somebody above all else on earth.
(02:42):
I only remember seeing my mother in her visits to
me in the kitchen of the Old Master few in number,
brief in duration, and mostly in the night. But the
pain she took, the toil she and door to see
me tells me that a true mother's heart was hers,
(03:05):
and that slavery had difficulty in paralyzing it.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
With unmotherly indifference.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I indeed was taken to Baltimore when I was nearly
twelve years old. My master there left me almost exclusively
to the management of his wife, Missus Sophia. All the
frequent hearing of my mistress reading the Bible, for she
often read the Bible, went all her husband was absent,
(03:34):
awakened my curiosity and respect to this.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Mystery of reading and my desire to learn. I frankly
ask her teach me to read, and without.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Hesitation, the dear woman began the task very soon. I
was master of the alphabet, and I can spell words
of three and four letters. But when Master all found doubt,
he unfolded to her the true philosophy of slavery and
the peculiar rules between mistresses and masters in the management
(04:09):
of their human chattel. He promptly forbade her continuance of
her instructions. His words on me, cold and harsh, sunk
deep into my heart, and it not only stirred up
this feeling of rebellion, but it awakened the slumbering.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Train of vital thought.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I had already seen an example of his cruel attack
on a young lady.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
In our household, and I was shocked at the rickchickness of.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Her life, knowing that I can be his next victim.
I was stern, but I understood from that exact moment
the direct path away from slavery to freedom, and it's
rendered me more resolute to seek intelligence. However, my mistress
was checked in her benevolent design the good lady, and
(05:02):
not only ceased to instruct me, but she set her
face a flint against my learning to read by any
means necessary. The power of the husband was victorious. But
all this was all too late. I had begun to
use my young white play meats with whom I met
(05:24):
in the.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Streets as teachers.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I carried a copy of the Webster Spelling Book in
my pocket, and when sent on errands, when time permits,
I step aside with my young play meats and take
a lesson in spelling.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I paid my boys with bread for a single biscuit.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Any one of my hungry little comrades would give me
a lesson far more valuable to me memory. So, when
I was about thirteen years old, I succeeded to learn
how to read.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I was able to.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Obtain the popular school book, the Columbia Order. Oh a
rich treasure, almighty documents, all choice readings, and I read
them over and over again, adding much to my limited
stock of knowledge. I got a bold and powerful denunciation
(06:29):
on oppression and the most brilliant vindication on the rights
of man.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I was able to penetrate the.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Secret between all slavery and oppression, and I certain this
true foundation to be the pride, the power, and the
avarice of man.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And you're listening to Kyle Taylor performing the words the
work the life of Frederick Douglas and bringing it to life.
I was born as slave in America. The Lord has
given me so many adventures. This segment started and it
ended with these words. I was able to penetrate the
(07:07):
secret between all slavery and oppression and ascertained its true
foundation to be the pride, power, and avarice of man.
What a writer, what a life? When we come back
more of a life of Frederick Douglas here on our
American Stories. This is Lee Habib, host of our American Stories.
(07:32):
Every day we set out to tell the stories of
Americans past and present, from small towns to big cities,
and from all walks of life, doing extraordinary things. But
we truly can't do this show without you. Our shows
are free to listen to, but they're not free to make.
If you love what you hear, go to our American
Stories dot com and make a donation to keep the
(07:53):
stories coming. That's our American Stories dot com. And we
continue with our American stories and with the life of
Frederick Douglas. Let's return to Kyle Taylor as Frederick Douglas himself.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
There was a short dialogue in it between a master
and a sleeve who had been recaptured, and argument is
ensued in The slave is upbraided and told to answer,
and he says he knows anything he says would have
little avail since he is completely in the hands of
his master, and there ah submit to my fate touch.
(08:45):
The master begins to recount all the good deeds he's
performed for the sleeve and then ask.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Him to speak again.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Thus having been invited to a debate. The sleeve makes
a spirited of himself, and arguments for and against slavery
were brought out.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
The master is vanquished by every turn, and.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Seeing this, he meekly emancipates the slave with best wishes
for his prosperity. It is scarcely necessary for me to
see that such a dialogue with such an ending read
(09:30):
when the fact that my being a slave was a
constant burden of grief to me powerfully affected me. After this,
I felt the need of God as a father and protector.
I was awakened by this regard by the preaching of
a white Methodist minister, Hanson. He felt that all men,
(09:54):
great and small, bond and free, were sinners in the
sight of God, and had to repent of their sin
and be.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Reconciled to God through Christ. I consulted a good colored
man named Charles Johnson, who.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
In tones of holy affection, told me to pray. I
finally found that change of heart which comes when one
cast all one's cares upon God, and by having faith
in Jesus Christ as a friend and as a redeemer
and as a savior for all those who diligently seek Him.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
After this, I.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Saw the world in a fresh light. I seemed to
live in a new world, and I made it by
new hopes.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
I loved all mankind.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Slaveholder not accepted, but I abhorred slavery even more now
than ever. My great concern now was to have whole
world converted. I would gather pages from the Holy Bible
from the dirty street gutters of Baltimore, and I washed
(11:10):
and dried them so I can get a word or
two a wisdom from them. I got acquainted with a
good old colored man named Lost, a more devout man
than he I had never seen. He not only prayed
three times a day, but he prayed while he was
walking down the street, while he was in his wagon,
while he was at work.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
His whole life was a life of prayer.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I went often with them to prayer meetings without the
knowledge of Master. He could read a little, but ah,
I was a great help to him in that regard.
I taught him the lessons, but he he taught me.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
The spirit.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Master threatened to whip me when he knew that I
had gone with Uncle Lasson, but I went anyway despite
the threat. Uncle Lawson was my spiritual father. He told
me that he had been shown that I must preach
the Gospel, and that I had great work to do,
(12:17):
and that the Lord is expecting me.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
To prepare myself to do it.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
But a pious man named mister Wilson asked me to
help him teach a small school house in the home
of a free colored man named mister Mitchell.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Who lived in a nearby village.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Here was something to live for good work teaching children
to read the Gospel of God, and we were doing
so when rushed in a mob headed by class leaders
of the church we belonged to, forcing us out, armed
with sticks and missiles, commanded that would never meet for
(12:59):
some purpose, again the hypocrisy you can see. By the
time I was twenty, another incident occurred, but it involved
Master All, who had supposedly converted it to Christianity, and
had exhibited far more cruelty and meanness to me than
(13:22):
ever before.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
He resolved to put me out.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
After years of my suffering severe weapons by him for
one year, he said to be broken by man famous
for doing so, Edward Covey. It's sufficed to say that
for the next six months I suffered far more golden
(13:49):
and bitter tax than ever before. With Master All, I
suffered bodily as well as mentally. Mister Cover of the
Snake golded me almost to madness. I cried out, Oh Lord,
save me.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
I only have one life to live. Protect me. God,
I might as well be killed. Running then DA standing.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
One hundred miles north and I'm free.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
With God's help, I will.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
But the contemptible Covey, through a series of incidents, created
the occasion for my one last flogging. After a previous
bloody attacked by this brute, and after I went back
to my master for mercy and justice, who only sent
(14:50):
me back to him, I vowed to stand up for
myself if he attacked me again, which he did very
soon in the barn, while I was attempting to abear
all of his to feed the horses, the snake grabbed
me and was endeavorent to slip a knot around my leg.
I found my fingers around the throat of that cowl
lit torment to every punch that it was carried by mine,
(15:15):
and cove it trembles and demanded, Ah, got going to
resist your scoundrel. And I looked straight in his eyes
and I said, yes, sir. You have goaded me and
treated me like a brute for the last six months,
and I.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Was standing no longer.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
After a long battle of many blows, covering now bloody
in the cowyard, finally gave up the contest, huffing and
puffing and pretending as if he would and he said, get.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
That to work.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
All this time I aim was not to hurt him,
but to prevent him from hurting me. I never leave
the weight of his fingers on me again. It was
the turning point of my life as a sleeve. I
was a man now. I had got to a point
where it didn't matter whether I lived or die. The
spirit it made me a free man. In fact, whila
(16:20):
remain a sleeve.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
In full.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And you've been listening to Kyle Taylor and his remarkable
performance as Frederick Douglas, embodying the very character and essence
of the man threw his own words through Frederick Douglas's
own writing, and my goodness, you see right in the
center of all this is God. It's Jesus Christ. For
(16:49):
Frederick Douglas, I love all mankind, he had said, imagine
this being a slave and even being able to formulate
that line that can only come from one source. But
I abhord slavery more than ever, he said, Uncle Lawson,
my spiritual father showed me. I must preach the gospel.
(17:10):
The Lord's expecting me to do it. I cried out,
Oh Lord, save me. Living only one hundred miles north,
I'd be free, and then of course towards the end,
the Spirit made me a free man. And he's talking
about the Holy Spirit while I remained a slave. Inform
(17:32):
when we come back more of the remarkable words of
Frederick Douglas and the remarkable performance of Kyle Taylor as
Frederick Douglas. Here on our American stories. And we continue
(18:08):
with our American stories and with Frederick Douglas's story, Let's
return to Kyle Taylor, who picks up where we last
left off on the.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Third day of September eighteen thirty. In accordance with the
resolution I made to do so, I bade farewell to
the city of Baltimore and to slavery.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Through my escape, I'd had help.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
From my dear and trusted friend Anna, who worked near
the docks where I worked in the days before. There
were moments when I and others with me share thoughts
of Hamlet, the Dane, thoughts that we would rather bear
those ills we had then fly off to the we
(19:00):
knew not of No man can tell the intense agon
that felt by a slave when it's wavery. At his escape,
everything he has is at stake, and everything he has
not is at stake too. But I believe there was
not one man among us who would not have rather
been shot down than to a pass away life and
(19:21):
hopeless bondage. So there I was in the great city
of New York, without loss of blood or bone. In
less than one week from escape in Baltimore, I was
walking among the rushing throngs and dazing at the dazzling
(19:43):
wonders of Broadway. The dreams of my childhood, the purpose
of my manhood now fulfilled. Free state all around men,
free earth under my feet, our whole.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
New world just bursts upon my eyes tainted vision.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
It was a moment of joy and excitement no words
can describe. I felt as if I had just escaped
a den of hung reliance for joy and gladness. Oh,
it's like a rainbore promise that defies the penning pencil.
For fifteen years I had been dragging a head the
(20:24):
chain with a with a huge block attached to it.
The chain was now severed, and God and Right stood vindicated.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Ah. It was a free a free free Nah.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
However, I was soon taught that I was still in
enemy's land. I hadn't been in New York before a
few hours when I was met by a fusionive sleeve.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Well known to me.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Alanda's Jake, who, while in New York, said he was
William Dixon. He said that he had just narrowly escaped
from being recaptured, and that there were many Southerners now
in the city coming back from the springs, and that
the black people in New York were not to be trusted,
and that there were hired men. I'm a lookout for
(21:26):
future for slaves, and that for a few dollars I
could be put back into a hands of a slave catcher.
He even seemed to be fearing while cautioning me that
I might be of a party to partake in recapturing him.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
He was soon lost to the Russian throngs.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
All of a sudden, a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness
crept all over me. Here I was in the midst
of human brothers, and yet more fearful of them than
of hungry lions. I kept my secret for as long
as I could, But then I was forced to go
(22:08):
out and search for an honest man, a man sufficiently
human enough not to betray me. I found my man,
and Stewart, a sailor, warm hearted and generous. He listened
to my story with brotherly interests, and it took me
home and went in search immediately for the late David Ruggles.
(22:29):
Ruggles was an officer on the underground railroad who kept
me safe for several days while my intended wife, Anna,
came up from Baltimore after I had informed that I
was safe.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
We were married shortly thereafter.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
In New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Anna and I was assured
that we'd be safe. I observed heavy toil without the whip,
and incidents which assured me that Anne and I was
amongst a sensible and thoughtful people. There were men there
that told me that in the state constitution there there
(23:12):
was nothing preventing a colored man from seeking any office.
Children went to school side by side with white children,
and my new friends, they assured me that there were
men they're willing to lay down their lives before a
slave would be taken there. Among my first concern while
(23:33):
then new Befort was to join a church.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
I had never given up on my faith.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
I had become a little back slitting in Luke Wong,
but I still felt it was necessary for me to
join a church. The southern slave holding churches I can
see through, but I wasn't ready for what I saw
in the Elm Street Church in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It
was a sacrament of the Life Supper, the most sacred
(24:02):
and solemn of all Christian ordinances. Pastor Bonnie preached, and
after was the church remained to partake in the sacrament.
I was among about a half a dozen of colored
members associated with the church, and had descended from the
gallery from where we had been ushered white members went
(24:27):
forward by the bench full, and when it was evident
that all the white members had been served the bread
and wine, Brother Bonnie pious.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Brother Bonnie, after a long pause.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
As if to make the necessary important point that all
the white members had been served, raised his voice at
an unnatural pitch and looked into the corner where his
black sheep had been pinned up, and beckoned with his hands,
exclaim me come fraud with colored members. Come forth, you
(25:05):
two have interest in the blood of crimes. God is
no respect of persons, and the colored members poor slaves.
Souls went forward and I went out, and I've never
(25:26):
been back to that church since. Only a month later,
I was given a copy of a newspaper, The Liberator.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Edited by William Lord Garrison.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
It exposed hypocrisy and wickedness and high places. It made
no truth for the traffickers of human bodies and souls
of men.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
It preached human.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Brotherhood, denounce those pussion, and demanded the complete emancipation of
my race. All the Antosity meeting is in New Bidford
a promptly.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
And you've been listening to Kyle Taylor embodying the man,
the works, the language, the voice of Frederick Douglas, and
it's just so moving. Part where he talks about just
finally fleeing bondage on the third day of September, I
bade farewell to the city of Baltimore and slavery through
(26:29):
my escape, and then of course him talking about New
York City. I was walking among the rushing throngs and
gazing at the dazzling sights of Broadway. I was a free,
free man. And then only to discover, thanks to the
Fugitive Slave Act, that there were Southerners all over New
(26:50):
York City looking to recapture slaves and return them to
the States. And there were Blacks in New York City
who could not be trusted, who made it collaborate with
those traders for a penny or a nickel or a dime.
What a howering thing to have happened. And then, of
course as he moves he discovers the words the Church
(27:14):
of William Lloyd Charrison, and it changes everything. When we
come back more of the life of Frederick Douglas here
on our American stories, and we continue with our American stories,
(27:41):
and with Kyle Taylor playing the part of Frederick Douglas.
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Oh, there was a grand and toss Leavery convention in
Nantucket in eighteen forty one. I had taken a holidays
in the three years since my escape, working with my hands,
sometimes all night and sometimes all day, working as a calker.
So I went to this convention, never supposing that I
(28:14):
might partake.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
In the proceedings.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
But a prominent abolitionist who had heard misspeaking to my
colored friends in a small church house, sought me out
in the crowd and asked if I could come up
and say a few words.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
It was with the most difficulty for me to even
stand erect, for me to command and articulate two or
three words without hesitation and stammering all my limbs trembled,
but the audience became so excited as myself. And then
Garrison spoke after me, and it took me as his text,
(28:59):
and it was a speech of an equal power that
swept down like a tornado. That night, I was urgently
solicited to join the Anti Slavery Society and publicly advocate
its principles.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Here was a new world for me.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
My years of freedom had been in hard labor as
a way of supporting Anna and I and rearing up
of our children. But I was young and hopeful, and
I poured my whole heart into this holy cause. However,
(29:46):
after years of preaching and speaking with these gentlemen, it
all became too mechanical for me telling my story. They
would say, tell your story, Frederick, as I would walk
up to the stage night after night, tell your story.
(30:09):
It was a new story for the audience, but it
was an old story for me.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
I was reading and thinking.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
A great deal at the time, and new ideas have
been presented to my mind on the subject.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I couldn't always obey. I even had men come up.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
To me and say, tell your story with Frederick, but
better have a little bit of that plantation manner about
yourself tis not best you appear to educate it.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
In less than four years of public speaking with these gentlemen,
folks begin to doubt that I had ever been a sleeve,
even believe that I had never been south of the
Mason Dixie line. Thought I was too intelligent, And since
I couldn't reveal the name of my master or the
county or state where I was from for fear of
(31:00):
recaptured and sent back to them, it was decided by
friends that I must leave for England.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
For twenty one months.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I stayed in England, and to my friends there I
owe my freedom in America.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
On their own.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Accord, without any solicitation by me, they raised funds sufficient
enough to purchase my freedom in America. I could have
stayed in England forever, but I thought it was my
duty to perform here in America, to suffer and live
(31:43):
but with the oppressor of my native land.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
So I returned.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
By the way my friends in England. There they resolved
to purchase me press and printing material, and I found
myself wielding the pen as well as my voice to
(32:10):
sind oppression to the grief. However, while back in America,
my friends in Boston. Earnestly opposed, I would Sawyer offering
himself to the public as an editor, a slave brought
(32:36):
up in the very depth of ignorance, assuming to instruct
the high, less civilized people of the North and the
principles of humanity, liberty, and justice.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Nevertheless, I persevered.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
The newspaper Florists for sixteen years.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
And I only closed it the war, and after a
meeting with.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
President Lincoln, under the belief that I was to be
commissioned by the United States to be the first black officer.
I was to be the assistant adjudant to General Thomas,
who was then recruiting and organizing troops in the Mississippi Valley.
My three sons were serving in that war, and after
their splendid behavior and their ability to fight to meet
the foe in the open field black soldiers on equal.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Fitness with white soldiers.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
To stop a bullet, black men had proved themselves to
be courageous.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
And worry they.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
In a speech I delivered in November eighteen sixty seven,
I said that a man's rights resting three boxes, the
ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box. The
real question is do they mean to me, good to us,
(34:00):
all the promises made in that glorious liberateate document, the
US Constitution.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
I would now share with you a letter.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
That I wrote to my master. I was finally able
to challenge him to consider his horrible treatment of me
and of my dear sisters. I said, it is an
outrage upon the soul, a war upon the immortal spirit,
(34:41):
and one from which you must give a count at
the bar of.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Our common father and creator.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
How you can stagger under it these many years? Your
mind must have become darkened, your heart, heartened, your conscious
seed and petrified, or you would have long since thrown
off the accursed load and sought relief at the hands
of a sin forgiving God. How let me ask, would
you look upon me, whereas some dark night, in company
(35:09):
with a band of hardened villains, to enter to your
elegant dwelling and seize the person of your own lovely
daughter Amanda, and carry her off from your family, friends,
and all the loved ones of her youth. May come
my slave, compel her to work, and I take her wages,
(35:32):
place her.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Name on my leisure as property.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Disregard her personal rights, fetter the powers of her rights,
and privilege of learning to read and write, feed her coarsely,
clothe her scantily, and whipper on the back occasionally, and
more and more still harbor leave her unprotected, a degraded
(35:58):
victim to the brutal lust of fear English overseers who
would pollute black and blast out her fair souls, rob
her of all her dignity, destroy her virtue, and undihlate
in her person all the graces.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
That adorn the character of virtuous womanhood high as.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
How would you regard me if such were my kinder? Indeed,
I entertain no malice towards you personally. There is no
roof under which you would be more safe than mine,
And there is nothing in my house which you might
(36:41):
need for your comfort which I would not readily grant.
I should esteem it a privilege to set you as
an example as how mankind opt to treat each other.
I am fellow man. Nah you'r see.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
And a terrific job by the production and editing by
our own Greg Hangler, And a special thanks to Kyle
Taylor and to the folks at Vision Video for allowing
us to use the audio for the theatrically staged drama
No turning Back starring Kyle Taylor. Just an extraordinary performance.
(37:27):
Go to vision video. Watch this with your family. It's
so important. Very often what we learn about Frederick Douglas
is extremely edited, and I think almost violently edited, because
too often God is left out, his faith journey is
left out, his sense of hope is left out, and
(37:48):
so much more. And again, go to vision video. No
Turning Back is the name of the video that features
this performance by Kyle Taylor, and it is more than
a performance. It's it's just remarkable, the story of Frederick
Douglas brought alive by the remarkable work and remarkable performance
(38:09):
of Kyle Taylor. Here on our American Stories.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Frederick Douglas escaped slavery when he was twenty years old,
went on to become one of the most important Americans
to fight for emancipation and the equality of all people.
He was the most photographed American of the nineteenth century,
(00:32):
sitting for more portraits even than Abraham Lincoln. But this
famed abolitionist's story is even more fascinating than what many
of us have learned in school. Here to tell the
story is Frederick Douglas, impersonator Kyle Taylor. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I was born a slave in America, in the state
of Maryland, and the Lord has given me mini advnkshures
since my escape from those bonds. I suppose myself to
be born about the year eighteen seventeen. I will recount
as part of my message a few excerpts from my
(01:11):
books regarding.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
My childhood and my life journey.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
A mysterious individual was the object of terror for me
as a small child among the inhapbinants of our little cabin.
He was under the ominous title of Old Master, had
several farms and overseas on it. Unhappily for me, the
(01:42):
only information I could gather concerning him only increase my
great dread of being carried thither as a seven year
old boy, of being deprived and separated from the protection
of my loving grandparents.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So you see it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
To remain little forever, For I knew that the taller
I grew, the shorter my stay would be, and the
only home I ever had.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
But I was not to remain there long. I was
soon to be taken to the Old master House.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I was a slave, And although this fact was incomprehensible
to me, it conveyed to my mind. And since my
entire dependence was at the will of somebody I had
never seen, and for some cause or other, I was
made to fear this somebody above all else on earth.
(02:42):
I only remember seeing my mother in her visits to
me in the kitchen of the Old Master few in number,
brief in duration, and mostly in the night. But the
pain she took, the toil she and door to see
me tells me that a true mother's heart was hers,
(03:05):
and that slavery had difficulty in paralyzing it.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
With unmotherly indifference.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I indeed was taken to Baltimore when I was nearly
twelve years old. My master there left me almost exclusively
to the management of his wife, Missus Sophia. All the
frequent hearing of my mistress reading the Bible, for she
often read the Bible, went all her husband was absent,
(03:34):
awakened my curiosity and respect to this.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Mystery of reading and my desire to learn. I frankly
ask her teach me to read, and without.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Hesitation, the dear woman began the task very soon. I
was master of the alphabet, and I can spell words
of three and four letters. But when Master all found doubt,
he unfolded to her the true philosophy of slavery and
the peculiar rules between mistresses and masters in the management
(04:09):
of their human chattel. He promptly forbade her continuance of
her instructions. His words on me, cold and harsh, sunk
deep into my heart, and it not only stirred up
this feeling of rebellion, but it awakened the slumbering.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Train of vital thought.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I had already seen an example of his cruel attack
on a young lady.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
In our household, and I was shocked at the rickchickness of.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Her life, knowing that I can be his next victim.
I was stern, but I understood from that exact moment
the direct path away from slavery to freedom, and it's
rendered me more resolute to seek intelligence. However, my mistress
was checked in her benevolent design the good lady, and
(05:02):
not only ceased to instruct me, but she set her
face a flint against my learning to read by any
means necessary. The power of the husband was victorious. But
all this was all too late. I had begun to
use my young white play meats with whom I met
(05:24):
in the.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Streets as teachers.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I carried a copy of the Webster Spelling Book in
my pocket, and when sent on errands, when time permits,
I step aside with my young play meats and take
a lesson in spelling.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I paid my boys with bread for a single biscuit.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Any one of my hungry little comrades would give me
a lesson far more valuable to me memory. So, when
I was about thirteen years old, I succeeded to learn
how to read.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I was able to.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Obtain the popular school book, the Columbia Order. Oh a
rich treasure, almighty documents, all choice readings, and I read
them over and over again, adding much to my limited
stock of knowledge. I got a bold and powerful denunciation
(06:29):
on oppression and the most brilliant vindication on the rights
of man.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I was able to penetrate the.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Secret between all slavery and oppression, and I certain this
true foundation to be the pride, the power, and the
avarice of man.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And you're listening to Kyle Taylor performing the words the
work the life of Frederick Douglas and bringing it to life.
I was born as slave in America. The Lord has
given me so many adventures. This segment started and it
ended with these words. I was able to penetrate the
(07:07):
secret between all slavery and oppression and ascertained its true
foundation to be the pride, power, and avarice of man.
What a writer, what a life? When we come back
more of a life of Frederick Douglas here on our
American Stories. This is Lee Habib, host of our American Stories.
(07:32):
Every day we set out to tell the stories of
Americans past and present, from small towns to big cities,
and from all walks of life, doing extraordinary things. But
we truly can't do this show without you. Our shows
are free to listen to, but they're not free to make.
If you love what you hear, go to our American
Stories dot com and make a donation to keep the
(07:53):
stories coming. That's our American Stories dot com. And we
continue with our American stories and with the life of
Frederick Douglas. Let's return to Kyle Taylor as Frederick Douglas himself.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
There was a short dialogue in it between a master
and a sleeve who had been recaptured, and argument is
ensued in The slave is upbraided and told to answer,
and he says he knows anything he says would have
little avail since he is completely in the hands of
his master, and there ah submit to my fate touch.
(08:45):
The master begins to recount all the good deeds he's
performed for the sleeve and then ask.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Him to speak again.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Thus having been invited to a debate. The sleeve makes
a spirited of himself, and arguments for and against slavery
were brought out.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
The master is vanquished by every turn, and.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Seeing this, he meekly emancipates the slave with best wishes
for his prosperity. It is scarcely necessary for me to
see that such a dialogue with such an ending read
(09:30):
when the fact that my being a slave was a
constant burden of grief to me powerfully affected me. After this,
I felt the need of God as a father and protector.
I was awakened by this regard by the preaching of
a white Methodist minister, Hanson. He felt that all men,
(09:54):
great and small, bond and free, were sinners in the
sight of God, and had to repent of their sin
and be.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Reconciled to God through Christ. I consulted a good colored
man named Charles Johnson, who.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
In tones of holy affection, told me to pray. I
finally found that change of heart which comes when one
cast all one's cares upon God, and by having faith
in Jesus Christ as a friend and as a redeemer
and as a savior for all those who diligently seek Him.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
After this, I.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Saw the world in a fresh light. I seemed to
live in a new world, and I made it by
new hopes.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
I loved all mankind.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Slaveholder not accepted, but I abhorred slavery even more now
than ever. My great concern now was to have whole
world converted. I would gather pages from the Holy Bible
from the dirty street gutters of Baltimore, and I washed
(11:10):
and dried them so I can get a word or
two a wisdom from them. I got acquainted with a
good old colored man named Lost, a more devout man
than he I had never seen. He not only prayed
three times a day, but he prayed while he was
walking down the street, while he was in his wagon,
while he was at work.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
His whole life was a life of prayer.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I went often with them to prayer meetings without the
knowledge of Master. He could read a little, but ah,
I was a great help to him in that regard.
I taught him the lessons, but he he taught me.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
The spirit.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Master threatened to whip me when he knew that I
had gone with Uncle Lasson, but I went anyway despite
the threat. Uncle Lawson was my spiritual father. He told
me that he had been shown that I must preach
the Gospel, and that I had great work to do,
(12:17):
and that the Lord is expecting me.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
To prepare myself to do it.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
But a pious man named mister Wilson asked me to
help him teach a small school house in the home
of a free colored man named mister Mitchell.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Who lived in a nearby village.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Here was something to live for good work teaching children
to read the Gospel of God, and we were doing
so when rushed in a mob headed by class leaders
of the church we belonged to, forcing us out, armed
with sticks and missiles, commanded that would never meet for
(12:59):
some purpose, again the hypocrisy you can see. By the
time I was twenty, another incident occurred, but it involved
Master All, who had supposedly converted it to Christianity, and
had exhibited far more cruelty and meanness to me than
(13:22):
ever before.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
He resolved to put me out.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
After years of my suffering severe weapons by him for
one year, he said to be broken by man famous
for doing so, Edward Covey. It's sufficed to say that
for the next six months I suffered far more golden
(13:49):
and bitter tax than ever before. With Master All, I
suffered bodily as well as mentally. Mister Cover of the
Snake golded me almost to madness. I cried out, Oh Lord,
save me.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
I only have one life to live. Protect me. God,
I might as well be killed. Running then DA standing.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
One hundred miles north and I'm free.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
With God's help, I will.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
But the contemptible Covey, through a series of incidents, created
the occasion for my one last flogging. After a previous
bloody attacked by this brute, and after I went back
to my master for mercy and justice, who only sent
(14:50):
me back to him, I vowed to stand up for
myself if he attacked me again, which he did very
soon in the barn, while I was attempting to abear
all of his to feed the horses, the snake grabbed
me and was endeavorent to slip a knot around my leg.
I found my fingers around the throat of that cowl
lit torment to every punch that it was carried by mine,
(15:15):
and cove it trembles and demanded, Ah, got going to
resist your scoundrel. And I looked straight in his eyes
and I said, yes, sir. You have goaded me and
treated me like a brute for the last six months,
and I.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Was standing no longer.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
After a long battle of many blows, covering now bloody
in the cowyard, finally gave up the contest, huffing and
puffing and pretending as if he would and he said, get.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
That to work.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
All this time I aim was not to hurt him,
but to prevent him from hurting me. I never leave
the weight of his fingers on me again. It was
the turning point of my life as a sleeve. I
was a man now. I had got to a point
where it didn't matter whether I lived or die. The
spirit it made me a free man. In fact, whila
(16:20):
remain a sleeve.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
In full.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And you've been listening to Kyle Taylor and his remarkable
performance as Frederick Douglas, embodying the very character and essence
of the man threw his own words through Frederick Douglas's
own writing, and my goodness, you see right in the
center of all this is God. It's Jesus Christ. For
(16:49):
Frederick Douglas, I love all mankind, he had said, imagine
this being a slave and even being able to formulate
that line that can only come from one source. But
I abhord slavery more than ever, he said, Uncle Lawson,
my spiritual father showed me. I must preach the gospel.
(17:10):
The Lord's expecting me to do it. I cried out,
Oh Lord, save me. Living only one hundred miles north,
I'd be free, and then of course towards the end,
the Spirit made me a free man. And he's talking
about the Holy Spirit while I remained a slave. Inform
(17:32):
when we come back more of the remarkable words of
Frederick Douglas and the remarkable performance of Kyle Taylor as
Frederick Douglas. Here on our American stories. And we continue
(18:08):
with our American stories and with Frederick Douglas's story, Let's
return to Kyle Taylor, who picks up where we last
left off on the.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Third day of September eighteen thirty. In accordance with the
resolution I made to do so, I bade farewell to
the city of Baltimore and to slavery.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Through my escape, I'd had help.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
From my dear and trusted friend Anna, who worked near
the docks where I worked in the days before. There
were moments when I and others with me share thoughts
of Hamlet, the Dane, thoughts that we would rather bear
those ills we had then fly off to the we
(19:00):
knew not of No man can tell the intense agon
that felt by a slave when it's wavery. At his escape,
everything he has is at stake, and everything he has
not is at stake too. But I believe there was
not one man among us who would not have rather
been shot down than to a pass away life and
(19:21):
hopeless bondage. So there I was in the great city
of New York, without loss of blood or bone. In
less than one week from escape in Baltimore, I was
walking among the rushing throngs and dazing at the dazzling
(19:43):
wonders of Broadway. The dreams of my childhood, the purpose
of my manhood now fulfilled. Free state all around men,
free earth under my feet, our whole.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
New world just bursts upon my eyes tainted vision.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
It was a moment of joy and excitement no words
can describe. I felt as if I had just escaped
a den of hung reliance for joy and gladness. Oh,
it's like a rainbore promise that defies the penning pencil.
For fifteen years I had been dragging a head the
(20:24):
chain with a with a huge block attached to it.
The chain was now severed, and God and Right stood vindicated.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Ah. It was a free a free free Nah.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
However, I was soon taught that I was still in
enemy's land. I hadn't been in New York before a
few hours when I was met by a fusionive sleeve.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Well known to me.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Alanda's Jake, who, while in New York, said he was
William Dixon. He said that he had just narrowly escaped
from being recaptured, and that there were many Southerners now
in the city coming back from the springs, and that
the black people in New York were not to be trusted,
and that there were hired men. I'm a lookout for
(21:26):
future for slaves, and that for a few dollars I
could be put back into a hands of a slave catcher.
He even seemed to be fearing while cautioning me that
I might be of a party to partake in recapturing him.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
He was soon lost to the Russian throngs.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
All of a sudden, a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness
crept all over me. Here I was in the midst
of human brothers, and yet more fearful of them than
of hungry lions. I kept my secret for as long
as I could, But then I was forced to go
(22:08):
out and search for an honest man, a man sufficiently
human enough not to betray me. I found my man,
and Stewart, a sailor, warm hearted and generous. He listened
to my story with brotherly interests, and it took me
home and went in search immediately for the late David Ruggles.
(22:29):
Ruggles was an officer on the underground railroad who kept
me safe for several days while my intended wife, Anna,
came up from Baltimore after I had informed that I
was safe.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
We were married shortly thereafter.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
In New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Anna and I was assured
that we'd be safe. I observed heavy toil without the whip,
and incidents which assured me that Anne and I was
amongst a sensible and thoughtful people. There were men there
that told me that in the state constitution there there
(23:12):
was nothing preventing a colored man from seeking any office.
Children went to school side by side with white children,
and my new friends, they assured me that there were
men they're willing to lay down their lives before a
slave would be taken there. Among my first concern while
(23:33):
then new Befort was to join a church.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
I had never given up on my faith.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
I had become a little back slitting in Luke Wong,
but I still felt it was necessary for me to
join a church. The southern slave holding churches I can
see through, but I wasn't ready for what I saw
in the Elm Street Church in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It
was a sacrament of the Life Supper, the most sacred
(24:02):
and solemn of all Christian ordinances. Pastor Bonnie preached, and
after was the church remained to partake in the sacrament.
I was among about a half a dozen of colored
members associated with the church, and had descended from the
gallery from where we had been ushered white members went
(24:27):
forward by the bench full, and when it was evident
that all the white members had been served the bread
and wine, Brother Bonnie pious.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Brother Bonnie, after a long pause.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
As if to make the necessary important point that all
the white members had been served, raised his voice at
an unnatural pitch and looked into the corner where his
black sheep had been pinned up, and beckoned with his hands,
exclaim me come fraud with colored members. Come forth, you
(25:05):
two have interest in the blood of crimes. God is
no respect of persons, and the colored members poor slaves.
Souls went forward and I went out, and I've never
(25:26):
been back to that church since. Only a month later,
I was given a copy of a newspaper, The Liberator.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Edited by William Lord Garrison.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
It exposed hypocrisy and wickedness and high places. It made
no truth for the traffickers of human bodies and souls
of men.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
It preached human.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Brotherhood, denounce those pussion, and demanded the complete emancipation of
my race. All the Antosity meeting is in New Bidford
a promptly.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
And you've been listening to Kyle Taylor embodying the man,
the works, the language, the voice of Frederick Douglas, and
it's just so moving. Part where he talks about just
finally fleeing bondage on the third day of September, I
bade farewell to the city of Baltimore and slavery through
(26:29):
my escape, and then of course him talking about New
York City. I was walking among the rushing throngs and
gazing at the dazzling sights of Broadway. I was a free,
free man. And then only to discover, thanks to the
Fugitive Slave Act, that there were Southerners all over New
(26:50):
York City looking to recapture slaves and return them to
the States. And there were Blacks in New York City
who could not be trusted, who made it collaborate with
those traders for a penny or a nickel or a dime.
What a howering thing to have happened. And then, of
course as he moves he discovers the words the Church
(27:14):
of William Lloyd Charrison, and it changes everything. When we
come back more of the life of Frederick Douglas here
on our American stories, and we continue with our American stories,
(27:41):
and with Kyle Taylor playing the part of Frederick Douglas.
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Oh, there was a grand and toss Leavery convention in
Nantucket in eighteen forty one. I had taken a holidays
in the three years since my escape, working with my hands,
sometimes all night and sometimes all day, working as a calker.
So I went to this convention, never supposing that I
(28:14):
might partake.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
In the proceedings.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
But a prominent abolitionist who had heard misspeaking to my
colored friends in a small church house, sought me out
in the crowd and asked if I could come up
and say a few words.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
It was with the most difficulty for me to even
stand erect, for me to command and articulate two or
three words without hesitation and stammering all my limbs trembled,
but the audience became so excited as myself. And then
Garrison spoke after me, and it took me as his text,
(28:59):
and it was a speech of an equal power that
swept down like a tornado. That night, I was urgently
solicited to join the Anti Slavery Society and publicly advocate
its principles.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Here was a new world for me.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
My years of freedom had been in hard labor as
a way of supporting Anna and I and rearing up
of our children. But I was young and hopeful, and
I poured my whole heart into this holy cause. However,
(29:46):
after years of preaching and speaking with these gentlemen, it
all became too mechanical for me telling my story. They
would say, tell your story, Frederick, as I would walk
up to the stage night after night, tell your story.
(30:09):
It was a new story for the audience, but it
was an old story for me.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
I was reading and thinking.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
A great deal at the time, and new ideas have
been presented to my mind on the subject.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I couldn't always obey. I even had men come up.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
To me and say, tell your story with Frederick, but
better have a little bit of that plantation manner about
yourself tis not best you appear to educate it.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
In less than four years of public speaking with these gentlemen,
folks begin to doubt that I had ever been a sleeve,
even believe that I had never been south of the
Mason Dixie line. Thought I was too intelligent, And since
I couldn't reveal the name of my master or the
county or state where I was from for fear of
(31:00):
recaptured and sent back to them, it was decided by
friends that I must leave for England.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
For twenty one months.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I stayed in England, and to my friends there I
owe my freedom in America.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
On their own.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Accord, without any solicitation by me, they raised funds sufficient
enough to purchase my freedom in America. I could have
stayed in England forever, but I thought it was my
duty to perform here in America, to suffer and live
(31:43):
but with the oppressor of my native land.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
So I returned.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
By the way my friends in England. There they resolved
to purchase me press and printing material, and I found
myself wielding the pen as well as my voice to
(32:10):
sind oppression to the grief. However, while back in America,
my friends in Boston. Earnestly opposed, I would Sawyer offering
himself to the public as an editor, a slave brought
(32:36):
up in the very depth of ignorance, assuming to instruct
the high, less civilized people of the North and the
principles of humanity, liberty, and justice.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Nevertheless, I persevered.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
The newspaper Florists for sixteen years.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
And I only closed it the war, and after a
meeting with.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
President Lincoln, under the belief that I was to be
commissioned by the United States to be the first black officer.
I was to be the assistant adjudant to General Thomas,
who was then recruiting and organizing troops in the Mississippi Valley.
My three sons were serving in that war, and after
their splendid behavior and their ability to fight to meet
the foe in the open field black soldiers on equal.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Fitness with white soldiers.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
To stop a bullet, black men had proved themselves to
be courageous.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
And worry they.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
In a speech I delivered in November eighteen sixty seven,
I said that a man's rights resting three boxes, the
ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box. The
real question is do they mean to me, good to us,
(34:00):
all the promises made in that glorious liberateate document, the
US Constitution.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
I would now share with you a letter.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
That I wrote to my master. I was finally able
to challenge him to consider his horrible treatment of me
and of my dear sisters. I said, it is an
outrage upon the soul, a war upon the immortal spirit,
(34:41):
and one from which you must give a count at
the bar of.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Our common father and creator.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
How you can stagger under it these many years? Your
mind must have become darkened, your heart, heartened, your conscious
seed and petrified, or you would have long since thrown
off the accursed load and sought relief at the hands
of a sin forgiving God. How let me ask, would
you look upon me, whereas some dark night, in company
(35:09):
with a band of hardened villains, to enter to your
elegant dwelling and seize the person of your own lovely
daughter Amanda, and carry her off from your family, friends,
and all the loved ones of her youth. May come
my slave, compel her to work, and I take her wages,
(35:32):
place her.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Name on my leisure as property.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Disregard her personal rights, fetter the powers of her rights,
and privilege of learning to read and write, feed her coarsely,
clothe her scantily, and whipper on the back occasionally, and
more and more still harbor leave her unprotected, a degraded
(35:58):
victim to the brutal lust of fear English overseers who
would pollute black and blast out her fair souls, rob
her of all her dignity, destroy her virtue, and undihlate
in her person all the graces.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
That adorn the character of virtuous womanhood high as.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
How would you regard me if such were my kinder? Indeed,
I entertain no malice towards you personally. There is no
roof under which you would be more safe than mine,
And there is nothing in my house which you might
(36:41):
need for your comfort which I would not readily grant.
I should esteem it a privilege to set you as
an example as how mankind opt to treat each other.
I am fellow man. Nah you'r see.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
And a terrific job by the production and editing by
our own Greg Hangler, And a special thanks to Kyle
Taylor and to the folks at Vision Video for allowing
us to use the audio for the theatrically staged drama
No turning Back starring Kyle Taylor. Just an extraordinary performance.
(37:27):
Go to vision video. Watch this with your family. It's
so important. Very often what we learn about Frederick Douglas
is extremely edited, and I think almost violently edited, because
too often God is left out, his faith journey is
left out, his sense of hope is left out, and
(37:48):
so much more. And again, go to vision video. No
Turning Back is the name of the video that features
this performance by Kyle Taylor, and it is more than
a performance. It's it's just remarkable, the story of Frederick
Douglas brought alive by the remarkable work and remarkable performance
(38:09):
of Kyle Taylor. Here on our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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