Frederick Douglass is a colossal presence on America’s 19th-century stage. An impressive black man, his electrifying oratory excoriated the injustice of slavery polluting this nation’s avowed aspirations to democracy.
A master’s wife taught Douglass the rudiments of reading before the master put an abrupt end to the lessons — for power comes with discerning the alphabet. Undeterred, Douglass steadily pursued the printed word. After escaping slavery, ...