Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote the poem “Frederick Douglass” as an elegy after the death of the American abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass in 1895. Dunbar was born in 1872 to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky; in his lifetime, he remained involved in the early civil rights movement and met Douglass at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. The poem was published as part of a collection of poems entitled Majors and Minors (1896) in which Dunbar engages with the issues and challenges facing the African American community in the United States following their liberation from enslavement and the aftermath of the American Civil War. The poem praises Douglass as a talented and fierce fighter for the community, as Dunbar mourns the loss of an extraordinary man who elevated the civil rights cause while showing that a Black man born into slavery could have success and acceptance at the highest levels of American society and government.

Poet Biography

Paul Laurence Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872 in Dayton, Ohio. His parents were freed slaves from Kentucky, and Dunbar’s poetry was often informed by their experiences on plantations before the American Civil War. Throughout his life, Dunbar was actively involved in the civil rights movement at the turn of the century, and sought to uplift African Americans. Dunbar began writing poetry at age six and gave public performances at nine years old. He attended Central High School in Dayton along with classmate and friend Orville Wright (of the notorious Wright Brothers aviators), where he was elected president of the school’s literary society and was the editor of the school newspaper. Dunbar began publishing his poetry as early as 14, and self-published a collection entitled Oak and Ivy in 1893.

In 1893 Dunbar moved to Chicago and found work at the World’s Fair. There, he met Frederick Douglass, who helped him set up a poetry reading. Dunbar’s work began to become widely recognized in the 1890s, with benefactors stepping in to help him publish his second poetry collection, Majors and Minors in 1896. By the turn of the century, he broadened his writing to short stories, essays, novels, a play, and lyrics for a musical addressing racial prejudice and white society. He traveled to England in 1897 where he met Henry Francis Downing and the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, the latter of whom put Dunbar’s verse to music.

In 1896, Dunbar published Lyrics of Lowly Life and moved to Washington D.C. to accept a clerkship at the Library of Congress. Two years later, he married writer Alice Ruth Moore, with whom he wrote books of poetry. In the last years of his life, Dunbar frequently published, solidifying his reputation. However, his health began to deteriorate in 1898 from tuberculosis, and after separating from his wife in 1902, he suffered a nervous breakdown and pneumonia. As his health continued to decline, Dunbar returned to his mother’s home in Dayton in 1904.

He died of tuberculosis at the age of 33 in 1906.

Poem Text

Dunbar, Paul Laurence. “Frederick Douglass.” 1896. Academy of American Poets.

Summary

The poem opens in the middle of a conflict and there is a quiet pause when Frederick Douglass dies, and his spirit passes away beyond “the mists” (Line 3). Ethiopia laments this loss and, in the second stanza, figures as the mother of the Black race. Douglass is portrayed as her son and just as she loved him, he fought for her as a champion, encouraging hope and trust as he raised her up from bondage and oppression. In the third and fourth stanzas, Dunbar outlines Douglass’s particular talents as an orator for the abolition of slavery. Douglass is likened to a warrior fearlessly attacking oppression with a bow and arrow and is described as a straightforward, bold speaker for the cause of freedom and equality. Douglass’s truth is depicted as dispelling confusion just as it illuminates “sin and crime” (Line 23) and attacks evil.

The fifth stanza addresses the opposition Douglass faced in speaking these truths, asserting that he faced attacks and answered them with his own powerful assault. The sixth stanza Dunbar elaborates on this, saying Douglass was able to withstand these personal attacks because he was not fighting for himself, but rather had answered the call of God to fight for his race and knew he was too important to the fight to give credence to belittling and petty attacks.

Dunbar recalls Douglass’s generosity in the seventh stanza and describes him as kind, accessible, and ready to jump in where he was needed, giving everything for his cause. In stanza eight, Dunbar returns to the moment of Douglass’s death. He likens him to a warrior who has remained loyal to his cause his entire life, ultimately dying on the battlefield in the middle of the fray. While America laments the loss of the hero, in stanza nine the speaker expresses gratitude for having known Douglass, and that his impact was so powerful as to spark a movement that will continue long after his death. The poem concludes by directly addressing Douglass, reiterating that his voice continues to inspire people in the fight for equality and to keep striving for better. The speaker assures Douglass that the movement he began will not fail, but instead the African American community will someday rise above oppression because of his leadership and tenacity.