Talbot County Celebrates Its Most Famous Native Son

by Bill Peak

Over the years, Edinburgh University’s Professor Celeste-Marie Bernier has taught me a great deal about Frederick Douglass, though her most important contribution to the study of the man may be, curiously, the research she has done not on Douglass but on Douglass’s wife and children. Bernier’s work has revealed just how important his family’s support was to the Great Orator’s success.

All of which has gotten me thinking about the other people that must have made the road Douglass trod a tad easier. Probably the most important of these would also be the least known: the people that helped him escape slavery.

We know that his wife Anna put the money together and sewed the clothing that would make her husband’s flight possible, but we also know there would have been others, perhaps many others, involved as well: conductors on the underground railway, people who took him in for the night along the way, and who knows, perhaps a boat-owner or two or even someone with a wagonload of hay. We know that these people—however nameless now—existed because, in his autobiography, while alluding to them obscurely, Douglass always carefully avoided providing their names or any particulars that might aid those intent upon derailing their clandestine work. “The peculiar institution” was thriving when Douglass first penned his autobiography, and the last thing he wanted to do was reveal routes, methods, and personnel still being used to funnel enslaved African Americans to freedom.

But there would have been others too, perhaps not as dramatic in their assistance, but important to Douglass’s eventual success nonetheless. Some of these are well known: Polly and Nathan Johnson, who sheltered Douglass and Anna in their home when the couple first arrived in New Bedford; William Lloyd Garrison, who brought Douglass to the attention of the abolitionist movement; and Abraham Lincoln, who befriended Douglass and wrote the pass that would allow him to travel unimpeded during the Civil War.

But what about the other people who must have made contributions, perhaps only small contributions, to Douglass’s journey from property to prophet? We all depend upon people like this, the childhood friend who stuck up for us when we were bullied, the person who helped us with some difficult task, the passing stranger who gave us a smile when we were feeling down. Life is often obstructed, but then something gives and, for a moment, there is an intoxicating sense of forward motion. How many now anonymous souls helped remove an obstacle from Douglass’s path, helped send him sailing toward us?

Perhaps more important still, how many would-be, could-be, Douglasses do we unknowingly lend a hand to today?

On Saturday, September 27, the people of Talbot County will come together once again to honor the legacy of Frederick Douglass, their most famous native son. The parade this year will feature, among others, the Easton High School Junior ROTC Color Guard, the Easton Middle School and White Marsh Elementary School marching bands, Randy Welch on bagpipes, the Hispanic Dance Group, and, for the first time, engines from both the Easton and Oxford Volunteer Fire Companies.

At the Welcome Ceremony on the courthouse lawn, fifteen-year-old Javion Jones, a minister at Union Baptist Church, will give the opening invocation, County and City officials will offer their thoughts on the day, Washington College fellow Darius Johnson will read a portion of a famous Douglass speech, the MidShore Community Band will play two pieces, and Dana Bowser will sing a capella.

Afterward, at the Children’s Village set up in front of the library, there will be Story Time with St. Michaels library’s branch manager Shauna Beulah, face-painting, the ever-popular portrait booth with Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass coloring books with sticker insert, a prize wheel with toy giveaways, and the opportunity for youngsters to sign up for the Frederick Douglass Reading Challenge (featuring six $50 Target Gift Certificates as prizes).

Within the library itself, the National Park Service will have an exhibit of Frederick Douglass artifacts on display and, at one o’clock, Dr. Nicholas Buccola—the Dr. Jules L. Whitehill Professor of Humanism and Ethics at Claremont-McKenna College—will lecture on his book, The Essential Frederick Douglass, copies of which will be available for purchase and signing.

From noon to three, the Festival’s entertainment stage will feature performances by the Bay Country Chorus, Sofia Fernandez, the New St. Johns Male Chorus, the St. Michaels Middle School Choir, Friends in Faith, Ruby Fisher, the Allegro Academy, Ayla Dennis, and the Asbury United Methodist Church choir, as well as line dancing and block party music provided by Allan Butler.

Oh, and of course, once again, there will be food vendors on hand with delicious food to satisfy the most demanding hunger.

All in all, it’s shaping up to be a fun day for people of all ages and interests. Moreover, it’s a day where your attendance, your enthusiasm, could end up encouraging some youngster (think the BAAM kids who will be in attendance, or the recipient of one of the Frederick Douglass Honor Society’s scholarships) to set his or her eyes on the prize. Like so many before you, you could be clearing the path for America’s next great freedom fighter.