The life-sized figure of Frederick Douglass in the interior of the New-York Historical Society is not painting, it is a statue that is exactly based on the body of the Abolitionist. It is part of a free exhibit in the lobby of the Society that anyone can see for free during business hours.
I have done articles on the Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass statues on the exterior, but now it is time to look at the interior statue. It is part of an exhibit on Douglass’s speech that America is a “Composite Nation.” In the speech he claimed that America is strong because Black and white, immigrant and native-born, Christian and Jew are all part of a “Composite Nation.” This vision of diversity means that anyone accepting the Constitution can become an American. He said that the Constitution bestows on all Americans equality. This equal diversity makes the country stronger and more advanced than any other country in the world because inclusion of all people living here means no divisions that could lead to civil war said Douglass.
The New-York Historical Society in located at 170 Central Park W, New York, NY 10024 right across from Central Park at West 77th Street. While the museum has a fee, you can see the lobby exhibit on Douglass for free.
Douglass said that:
“I am especially to speak to you of the character and mission of the United States, with special reference to the question whether we are the better or the worse for being composed of different races of men. I propose to consider first, what we are, second, what we are likely to be, and, thirdly, what we ought to be. . .
I am here to talk to you about the qualities and purpose of the United States. In particular, I will consider whether the diversity of our population is a good or bad thing. First, I will talk about what we are. Second, I will talk about what we will probably be. Third, I will talk about what we should be. . .
The real trouble with us was never our system or form of Government, or the principles underlying it; but the peculiar composition of our people, the relations existing between them and the compromising spirit which controlled the ruling power of the country.”
Douglass predicted that the diversity of the population would only grow as the United States moved forward into the future. He said:
“Our people defy all the ethnological and logical classifications. In races we range all the way from black to white, with intermediate shades which, as in the apocalyptic vision, no man can name a number.
In regard to creeds and faiths, the condition is no better, and no worse. Differences both as to race and to religion are evidently more likely to increase than to diminish. . . .I hold that a liberal and brotherly welcome to all who are likely to come to the United States, is the only wise policy which this nation can adopt. . . .”
The exhibit is designed around the work of David Blight, a well-known Civil War historian and the Pulitzer Prize winning biographer of Steven Douglass. Douglass composed his “Our Composite Nation” speech in 1869 and he traveled throughout the country where he delivered it just as Blacks, immigrants, Catholics and Jews were the objects of increasing prejudice.
Americans know of Douglass as a pre-war Abolitionist and largely are ignorant of his role during the Civil War and his role in Reconstruction. In fact, of course, many don’t know that he was active in promoting civil rights, immigrant rights, and women’s rights all the way up to the 1890s. According to the New-York Historical Society, was a spokesman for “social reform and hope.”
Douglass believed that the best protection for the civil rights of excluded groups was the ballot box. Women and Blacks might get concessions, but they could not protect them except by voting.
An 1860s ballot box. 1868 was the first presidential election in which most Black men were able to vote. The ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870 removed de jure color bars on voting.
The exhibit looks at equality beyond the right to vote. Blacks were excluded from public transit in many places throughout the country, which made it difficult to get employment. The exhibit looks at the involvement of civil rights activists in places like Philadelphia to end segregation.
Without religious liberty, the promise of the 1st Amendment could not be fulfilled.
An explanation of the struggle for religious freedom in the 1860s and 1870s is the focus of this panel.
In his speech, Douglass explained that the Composite Nation held out hope for all Americans, not just African Americans.
The hope included keeping families together after centuries in which families were divided under slavery.
There is a small statue at the end of the exhibit. Douglass is shown as a young man in Ireland. He travelled to Ireland in 1845 and 1846 just as the Great Famine was beginning to devastate the country, during hundreds of thousands of Irish refugees to the United States.
An excellent quote from Douglass that is still applicable today.
Here is the statue. The full-sized version is at the University of Maryland.
When Douglass first spoke of his composite nation, America seemed promising. With a decade, across the South, Jim Crow would replace Reconstruction, women would not get the vote for another half-century, and Asian immigrants would be banned from entering the United States
