In this gripping episode of Destination Freedom, we delve into the final chapter of Frederick Douglass's story, exploring his pivotal role during the Civil War. As an influential abolitionist, Douglass meets with President Lincoln, advocating for the emancipation of slaves and their inclusion in the Union Army. Despite initial resistance, Douglass's persistence and the undeniable realities of the war lead to a shift in policy, highlighting the critical intersection of freedom and union preservation.
Through dramatic reenactments, we witness Douglass's tireless efforts to recruit freedmen and fugitives into the Union ranks, emphasizing the transformative power of emancipation. The episode captures the tension and hope of the era, culminating in Lincoln's historic Emancipation Proclamation. This powerful narrative not only celebrates Douglass's legacy but also underscores the enduring struggle for equality and justice in America.
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Unknown:
Oh, freedom. Oh, freedom. Oh, freedom over me. And before I'd be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave and go home to my lord and
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be free.
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Destination, freedom. The Chicago Defender and station WMAQ bring you Destination Freedom, a new radio series dramatizing the great democratic traditions of the Negro people, interwoven in the pageant of history and a part of America's own Destination Freedom. Today, Destination Freedom brings you the second and last chapter in the story of Frederick Douglass, outstanding editor and leading abolitionist during the Civil War. The chapter entitled, The Key to Freedom.
[00:01:34] Unknown:
There were soldiers in the streets and cannon in the valleys. The civil war was on. Some said it started when mad Ed Ruffin fired the first gun on Fort Sumter. You said it started when the first slave was brought to Jamestown. Some said it would end when the rebels were beaten. You said there would be no end until the slaves were free. You told that to the tall, tired man in the White House. You made a proposal. President Lincoln listened, looking out towards the river.
[00:02:07] Unknown:
Mister Douglas, you propose first that I arm the slaves. And now that I make this war a war of liberation, emancipate the slaves. Is that it? Essentially. Then I'm afraid you won't like my answer.
[00:02:24] Unknown:
You don't like my proposal? My likes won't dictate my
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answer. You've been a leader for twenty years in the fight to free the slaves. I know of your own life in slavery. I know how you hate it. I'm with you on that. Then can't you see the war as a war of ending the slave? I see the war in only one way, Douglas, as a way to preserve the union, not to save or destroy slavery. If I can save the union without freeing the slaves, I'll do it. You'd settle the war and leave the slaves untouched? If it wins the war, I will. Your other requests too, I've got to turn down. Union is against arming the slaves. Our enemies say we're waging a war of abolition. We're only waging a war to bring the union together again. Good, mister president. I don't know how you feel about this.
My feelings, I hold to myself. Prisons in Europe want to recognize the Confederacy, not us. If they did that, we'd be lost. The border states threatened to go over to the Confederacy if we liberate the slaves. Your enemies in the North would split from us if we abolish slavery. We couldn't win, Douglass. Those are the keys to victory. One bad turd, and we lose a union. It took a hundred years to build. Proposals?
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They're useless without
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freedom. I'll be going. This side of the street. It
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does, except one last question. If you could save the Union only by freeing the slaves, would you do that? I would.
[00:04:09] Unknown:
What are you thinking?
[00:04:11] Unknown:
I'm thinking maybe we're not too far apart. Slavery is a cancer. If it's not cut out of the nation, the Union will die. If my cabinet believed
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that, we'd do it. That's not the key as we see it. It's the one I see.
[00:04:31] Unknown:
Suppose I visit your cabinet members. Maybe I could prove it to them.
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You left the tall, tired man and you talked to the officers in his cabinet. You had a key that could turn the union into a fortress slaveholders couldn't touch. You talked to the chiefs of staff. You talked to the secretary of war. We'd already heard of you.
[00:04:57] Unknown:
You wanna know what I think of your proposals, Douglas? I think I've got an idea already. I'll give it to you in black and white. Clerk? Yes, sir? Hand me a copy of the new instructions to our ministers.
[00:05:09] Unknown:
Right here, mister Seward.
[00:05:12] Unknown:
How the war will end. We're sending it to every government in Europe. It's written so it'll convince even you that we mean to stand by it. Can I read it? If you will. This is our policy. No matter how the war ends, the status of no class of the people of The United States will be changed by the rebellion. The slaves will be slaves still. The masters will be masters still. If any attempt is made by the slaves or their allies to gain their freedom, the Union Army will suppress it with an iron hand. That's our policy hereafter, Douglas. Would you like a copy of it to print in your paper?
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You crushed the copy in your hands, and you walked towards home. You walked through crowds, but you were alone.
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You passed men milling on the streets bewildered over the wall. You heard some mutter as you passed. Sure. I'll fight for the union, but I ain't even listen to fight fight to free no slaves. What's the difference? Ain't fighting fighting? Freeing slaves ain't fighting. It's foolish. I don't see it that way. Well, let's hear Lincoln's gone too far. The war's a mistake. Come to terms with the Confederate States, I say. That sense. Let the South have the slaves. Let us alone. We ain't fighting to free the slaves. Then why are we sending the boys off to fight? Oh. Because of guys like him. That's why. Who? Who are you talking about? Him walking around free and easy. He's the cause of it. Look at him. Yeah. Let's show him. Come on, guys. Get him. Come on, Joe. Get him. Get him. Get him. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out.
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Get
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thought they could be free only when you were in chains. You ran and your heart was sick. You ran home to your print shop to Anna and your sons. They had been waiting to print your story.
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Where?
[00:07:08] Unknown:
Louis, George, get some water. Dad, what happened to you? Your coat bloody bad.
[00:07:14] Unknown:
What's the matter? Who did it? Numbs, boys. Stand away and let your father alone. You talk whenever he's ready. Sit here Fred. I'll be alright.
[00:07:24] Unknown:
Are the papers ready? One addition, Ben. We waited for you to set up the headline story. Did you see the president? You see Lincoln? Boys, let him alone.
[00:07:32] Unknown:
He needs rest. Can't your eyes tell you what happened you needn't ask? There are mobs roaming the streets hating what the war's about. Leave them after your father. You'll stay in and rest now Fred. Never mind then.
[00:07:47] Unknown:
I'm alright. I'll write my story. Hey, Louis. Yes, dad? Set the title. Let the new edition go out this evening. And the story? It'll be about the war. Headline it, to save the union, free the slave. Is that what the president said? That's what I say.
[00:08:08] Unknown:
That's what the people will learn. Was Lincoln the way you thought he'd be, Dan? Was he for freeing the slaves? Not now. Well, then what good is he to us? Is that the president you you preach for people to vote for? Is that the man you lost your friends to fight for? Lewis,
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before you judge Lesnar, it's true he doesn't see the war right yet. Then he's no different from the others. He is different. He has a way of reasoning and sort of looking squarely at things. And he's free from prejudice. When a man's free from prejudice, it's not hard to show him a mistake.
[00:08:56] Unknown:
You watched the soldiers marching southward, but they brought back few victories. You knew men fought best when they believed in what they fought for. Some cried the war was about states' rights, but you knew a stronger cry on the ground, the cry of freedom for millions of people. You watched the soldiers march south, and in the morning, you decided to go with them.
[00:09:21] Unknown:
I'm going down to the army camps, Anna. I can't say how long I'll be gone.
[00:09:27] Unknown:
I heard you.
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I don't wanna leave you and the boys, but someone's got to go into the camps and report to the people why we're losing the war. Some of the generals know me. I can talk to them. If you couldn't influence the president, how can you influence the generals? If the state's policy toward the slaves is the right one,
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I won't be able to.
[00:09:49] Unknown:
If it isn't, we can report it. Louis, George. Yes, father? Yes? You go on printing the papers as before. Print the stories I send back and keep the paper going. They tried to stop us from delivering. Deliver them anyway. Spread them as far as you can.
[00:10:07] Unknown:
I'll write what they're saying in the camps in Florida, Carolina, and Virginia.
[00:10:11] Unknown:
Are you taking me with you, Dan? It's too dangerous for a boy just grown. Your time for danger will come, Louis. Be ready for it. It's more important now that you deliver every paper we print.
[00:10:26] Unknown:
Then you followed the soldiers. You saw how the war was being fought and lost. You talked to officers and men in camps facing Confederate armies. You wrote down what the general said in his tent while rebel cannon cut through the night.
[00:10:43] Unknown:
Yeah. We lost the battle of bull run and we're losing this one. Why? Hands are simple. We need men, men, men. Competitors out numbers? No. Not that so much. The rebels have got slaves. Slaves are made to build their garrisons and fortifications. Slave labor allows them to put every fighting man in the field.
[00:11:03] Unknown:
They didn't have that.
[00:11:05] Unknown:
There's a way to take it away from them, general. What are you hitting at? General. General Butler. I said not to interrupt me. I know, sir, but we're coming into camp again. We can't drive them off, sir. You've got to drive them off. You know the orders. Some of them won't go, sir. Not without
[00:11:20] Unknown:
Without shooting? Then shoot. Yes, sir. I'll tell the guard. Enemy coming through our lines? Oh, no. No. Keep your seat. It's not the rebels he's talking about. Who then? Fugitive slaves. They escape by the hundreds now. Sometimes they come in bringing their master's guns along. They swarm over into our lines, taking up with us. And you drive them back? I've got to. Sometimes I don't know if we're fighting the fugitives or the rebels. Sometimes I think if we gave them guns, took them in What would happen? I know what would happen.
General Fremont declared all slaves free after his first victory in Louisiana. President reversed it. They called him down for it. I don't take any chances. I send them back even if I have to send bullets after them.
[00:12:14] Unknown:
You told that to the people through your paper. You went deeper into the lines of the army and told them of the colonel who went to war with one army and came back with another.
[00:12:26] Unknown:
Your army has changed colors, colonel. How did this happen? I've brought back a full regiment, sir. He left New York with white troops to come to my camp six months later with black troops. When we attacked at Baton Rouge, our men were shot up. Oh, shot up men don't change colors and march back. I sent for reinforcement, sir. None came.
[00:12:45] Unknown:
The rebels were attacking us on all sides. None of us expected to get out alive. We didn't have men enough to dig trenches. Then the fugitives came in. You remember your orders about them? Yes. I remember the orders, sir. And I also remembered we'd all die if we didn't get help. We took them in and gave them guns. They manned the trenches. When the battle was done, I had lost most of my original regiment. So I trained the fugitives,
[00:13:10] Unknown:
four thousands of them. Your orders were to send them back to their masters. As I said, sir,
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there are 4,000 out there with guns. They'll fight on our side or against us. I want them on our side.
[00:13:26] Unknown:
You saw the staggering armies filled with fugitives. You saw some beaten and thrown back in hell for their masters, but still they kept coming, fighting their way from the slaveholders. And the men in the army were changing. You heard a guard say, You want my story, mister?
[00:13:45] Unknown:
They put me on guard to push back the fugitives, but I don't do it anymore. I let them come in. They come in garbed in rags or in silks, in shoes or no shoes, families in singles, and I take them in. I don't tell a general, but I take them in.
[00:14:02] Unknown:
You talk to fugitives with their borrowed gun, walking along the roads, living outside the camps. You wrote the other night you walked along the road with an old ex slave carrying his own gun to join a union skirmish. You ask him about the war.
[00:14:18] Unknown:
Somehow, I'm not much worried about how the war turn out. We come into the camp. They drive us out. But when there's too many of us to keep, I've been in 10 rage yet they say I ain't a regular army man. They say the war ain't for freedom and what they're shooting about. They say when the war's over, they send me back the old master. And I say when a man get a little freedom, he never forget the taste of it. Don't, sir. Let them say what they want. I got a feeling out of the wall coming out. I don't give you that feeling.
[00:14:55] Unknown:
Who had led the Underground Railroad, who was leading scouts for the Union Army. You talked to Harriet Tubman, who'd been in the dozen battles. She told you how they were.
[00:15:07] Unknown:
The lightning. And then we hear the thunder. That's the big guns. And then we hear the rain falling. Those are the drops of blood falling. And when it's time to take in the crops, it's dead men we reap. You tell your paper, Douglas, we're gonna reap freedom out of this, or there'll always be thunder.
[00:15:34] Unknown:
You put her words down so your sons could print them and carry them to the people at home. You put down the words of fugitives and generals, officers and men who wanted to find a way to make the war worth fighting and the union worth saving.
[00:15:49] Unknown:
Tell them we can't win a war against the fugitives and the Confederates. It's got to be one or the other, Douglas. One or the other. Tell them back home, Douglas, that a thousand freedmen on our side is better than a thousand slaves helping the rebels. Tell them we've stopped driving them out of the camps. Tell them we're changing our mind about what the war is for. Tell them we're changing our mind.
[00:16:13] Unknown:
And you took the words to the papers and to the tall man in the White House. He called you in. And listen.
[00:16:21] Unknown:
You've made a good report, Douglas. What are you gonna do about it, mister president?
[00:16:26] Unknown:
We're not winning the war. Oh,
[00:16:29] Unknown:
the war is not going well. We've been careful not to make a false move, but I believe I know a mistake when I see one. I'm ringing for the secretary of war and his aide. They've read the reports. I'll put it up to them. Did you ring, sir? Yes. Tell Seward and mister Johnson to come in. Tell them Douglas is here. Yes, mister president. My cabinet never agrees with me, but the facts and figures you've shown me are pretty stubborn things, Douglas. This policy is not holding the union together. Want me, mister Liggett? Has general Grant reported yet, sir? What's happened? It's not Grant's report I wanna discuss, gentlemen. It's Douglas'. Oh, you Douglas'. Yes. You've read it.
You know how the war is going. I am thinking, gentlemen, that we've made a serious blunder in not taking Negro troops into our ranks. You know why we can't do it, mister Lincoln. We will support in the border states, mister president. They'd be right. Without them, we're losing the war, and that's what I am concerned about. I know we've got thousands in the North who have no idea of the real meaning of the war. No one was prepared for it. Our manpower's dwindling. You know how. Seriously. Gentlemen, I I am thinking of asking Douglas to help recruit as many regular Negro regiments as he can. Slave regiments, sir? That would never work, mister president. Our best commanders are already working them. They're ahead of us.
Thousands are already fighting on our side. We're late in recognizing the value. There'll be a hundred thousand deserters if slaves come officially into the army. Then we'll replace them with a hundred thousand fugitives. Mister Douglas thinks the union will never prosper unless their labor and strength are turned to our side, and I agree. Mister Douglas thinks we can ever win without emancipation. He'll be demanding that next. He's demanded it already, gentlemen. The cause of the union comes first. We started the war with no intention of touching slavery, yet slavery is the root and kernel of the war.
It's not free men alone who will determine whether we'll have a union. It's 4,000,000 slave workers now on the side of the Confederates trying to get to our side. Our side's holding its own, mister president. A few setbacks or not. It's not the setbacks that have decided me. It's plain arithmetic. With the labor supply the Confederates have got, we wouldn't win win even if we sacrificed every white man in the North. Our chance is at the future with the fugitive slaves and the slaves behind the enemy lines. Hereafter, we'll welcome them into our ranks.
I'm asking Douglass to start recruiting their regiments. I believe regiments of trained freedmen will have an unusual effect on the nerves of the slaveholders. It'll be our strongest blow.
[00:19:31] Unknown:
You went out to build up the strongest blow. You went to the platforms and halls and spoke to the fugitives and freedmen. You talked to those who had been driven out of the camps. You asked them to come back. You spoke in the streets and they listened.
[00:19:48] Unknown:
Freedmen, slaves, fugitives, the hour is coming when The United States will be a land ruled not by one race, but by one people. When the first shot was fired on Fort Sumter, I said it would liberate strike at its roots. Join strike at its roots. Join the fight. Forget the past. It's now or never. Better to die free than live slave.
[00:20:33] Unknown:
You urged 50,000 to join the regiments, and you went home to write your paper, and you found you'd recruited two men you hadn't counted on. Anna was home running the paper alone. Anna,
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where are the boys?
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Wasn't it enough to send others to fight? Did you have to send our sons?
[00:20:55] Unknown:
Louis, George.
[00:20:56] Unknown:
They've gone. I didn't wait for you to come back. Enjoy the new regiment.
[00:21:02] Unknown:
I see.
[00:21:04] Unknown:
They've done right. They were the only children I had. You know the rebels' law against them. If they're captured, they're hanged. Don't talk that way, Anna.
[00:21:14] Unknown:
What I said for others, I have meant for my own sons too. They'll be fighting to free us all. Isn't slavery still the law of the land? We're changing that, Anna. Who'll change it? It's a changed thing already. The war's changed. Lincoln don't see to that. He's given his word that it won't touch slavery. He's given his word to save the union. The only way to save the union now is to strike down slavery. I think mister Lincoln will see it. Now let's see our sons off the wall.
[00:21:46] Unknown:
You saw your sons march off in the new regiment of General Putnam. You watched them go, and you went back to your printing press to make it clear what the war was about. You told the people what you saw in the war.
[00:22:00] Unknown:
We're fighting for something incomparably better than the old union. Freedmen, fugitives, we're fighting for unity of ideas, unity of sentiment, unity of objects in which there shall be no North, no South, no East, no West, no black, no white, but a solidarity of the nation naming every slave free and every free man a voter.
[00:22:27] Unknown:
You told those who still doubted the war's end.
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Whether men slow call it or not, the war for the union is the war for emancipation. Emancipation. There'll be freedom for all
[00:22:39] Unknown:
or chains for all.
[00:22:42] Unknown:
And you told him about Lincoln.
[00:22:44] Unknown:
You can trust this man from Illinois. He may be slow,
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but he's not a man to retract or retreat. When he moves, he moves forward.
[00:22:56] Unknown:
While men fought for the idea of one nation or two, the president invited you to call on him. You told him
[00:23:05] Unknown:
I prophesied doom if we go on with slavery, mister Lincoln. And I am beginning to believe you're right, Douglas.
[00:23:12] Unknown:
There's pressure to make peace now, but it would put the bondsman back further than they are.
[00:23:17] Unknown:
Would it save the union? After a a fashion.
[00:23:21] Unknown:
We are not winning the war, Douglas. We still need more troops, more volunteers. We need workers to raise food for the armies and man the factories. Those you recruited weren't enough. Can we get more?
[00:23:36] Unknown:
Yes. We can recruit more. You know how many? 3,000,000 more. 3,000,000 more new citizens. With an Emancipation Proclamation, the trickle of fugitives will become a flood. Emancipation. That's the key to winning the war and uniting the nation. Even the Confederate generals seek laws to free slaves. Now if the Union Army calls for emancipation first, the rebels can do nothing but surrender. You can tell your cabinet that they have the key to crippling the Confederacy. The key is freedom. Proclaim it.
[00:24:16] Unknown:
I may. When the reports come in from the field this week, when I've had time to think this through further, it
[00:24:24] Unknown:
may be done. Mister president. Yes? A message come in from general Putman's regiment, sir. Yes. What is it? It's been nearly wiped out at Fort Wagner, sir. Fort Wagner Soldiers wiped out? Yes. That's what the general said. I'd like a pass to visit the grounds.
[00:24:39] Unknown:
My
[00:24:40] Unknown:
sons were in that regiment. Yeah. I'll give you the pass, Douglas. When you come back, maybe we can finish our talk about the key to the union.
[00:24:54] Unknown:
You left, and you forgot the fight to free 3,000,000 people. You stumbled through the battlegrounds looking for signs of two sons. In the morning, you found one. Wounded feverish, it was Lewis. He couldn't see.
[00:25:09] Unknown:
Lewis. Do you know me, son? I'm your father. You father? Yes, but we're taking you home. The doctor said that you can go home now.
[00:25:21] Unknown:
But what did Lincoln say? You never told me.
[00:25:26] Unknown:
Lincoln hasn't said yet, son. But I believe when you're well again, you'll be in a free land.
[00:25:40] Unknown:
You moved about the fields and swamps and found your sons and worked in the camps and helped dig the trenches until the enemy was stopped. Then you came home and were going back to your press and printing. When the president called you late at night, he'd been up writing. He said
[00:26:00] Unknown:
My friends say I am slow, Douglas. My enemies say I move too fast. I wanted you here tonight because we'll move faster than we've done in a hundred years. Yes. I have a proclamation.
[00:26:15] Unknown:
Does it free the slave? It saves the union.
[00:26:19] Unknown:
Your proposals were right, Douglas. No human power can stop the war without emancipating the slaves. Even my cabinet can see this now. Shall I read the proclamation?
[00:26:33] Unknown:
And he took the thin paper with words strong enough to free millions,
[00:26:39] Unknown:
and he read I, Abraham Lincoln, president of The United States, by virtue of the powers in me vested, do this January 1863, proclaim that all persons held as slaves within the state in rebellion against The United States shall be henceforward and forever free. And upon this, I believe to be an act of justice, war under the constitution. I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind at the gracious favor of almighty god.
[00:27:21] Unknown:
And you folded the paper and went home to your printing. There were still soldiers in the streets and cannon in the valleys, but you knew the war was won. It was the beginning of a nation of free people.
[00:27:37] Unknown:
Oh, freedom. Oh, freedom.
[00:27:44] Unknown:
Oh,
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freedom over me. And before I'd be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave and go home to my lord and be free.
[00:28:20] Unknown:
Just heard Destination Freedom's dramatization of the story of Frederick Douglass brought to you by the Chicago Defender and WMAQ's Department of Education and Public Affairs. Destination Freedom is written by Richard Durham, and the production is under the direction of Homer Heck. The cast included Weslyn Tilden, Ernie Andrews, Boris Aplin, Oscar Brown Junior, Maurice Copeland, Don Gallagher, Art McCoo, Cliff Norton, Fred Pinkard, and Jess Pugh. The singer was Greg Pascal. Richard Shores composed the special music, which was played by Elwyn Owen and Bobby Christian. This is Charles Chan inviting you to be with us again next week for another in our series on the Negro in democracy, destination, freedom.
This is WMAQ NBC in Chicago.
Oh, freedom. Oh, freedom. Oh, freedom over me. And before I'd be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave and go home to my lord and
[00:00:33] Unknown:
be free.
[00:00:35] Unknown:
Destination, freedom. The Chicago Defender and station WMAQ bring you Destination Freedom, a new radio series dramatizing the great democratic traditions of the Negro people, interwoven in the pageant of history and a part of America's own Destination Freedom. Today, Destination Freedom brings you the second and last chapter in the story of Frederick Douglass, outstanding editor and leading abolitionist during the Civil War. The chapter entitled, The Key to Freedom.
[00:01:34] Unknown:
There were soldiers in the streets and cannon in the valleys. The civil war was on. Some said it started when mad Ed Ruffin fired the first gun on Fort Sumter. You said it started when the first slave was brought to Jamestown. Some said it would end when the rebels were beaten. You said there would be no end until the slaves were free. You told that to the tall, tired man in the White House. You made a proposal. President Lincoln listened, looking out towards the river.
[00:02:07] Unknown:
Mister Douglas, you propose first that I arm the slaves. And now that I make this war a war of liberation, emancipate the slaves. Is that it? Essentially. Then I'm afraid you won't like my answer.
[00:02:24] Unknown:
You don't like my proposal? My likes won't dictate my
[00:02:28] Unknown:
answer. You've been a leader for twenty years in the fight to free the slaves. I know of your own life in slavery. I know how you hate it. I'm with you on that. Then can't you see the war as a war of ending the slave? I see the war in only one way, Douglas, as a way to preserve the union, not to save or destroy slavery. If I can save the union without freeing the slaves, I'll do it. You'd settle the war and leave the slaves untouched? If it wins the war, I will. Your other requests too, I've got to turn down. Union is against arming the slaves. Our enemies say we're waging a war of abolition. We're only waging a war to bring the union together again. Good, mister president. I don't know how you feel about this.
My feelings, I hold to myself. Prisons in Europe want to recognize the Confederacy, not us. If they did that, we'd be lost. The border states threatened to go over to the Confederacy if we liberate the slaves. Your enemies in the North would split from us if we abolish slavery. We couldn't win, Douglass. Those are the keys to victory. One bad turd, and we lose a union. It took a hundred years to build. Proposals?
[00:03:52] Unknown:
They're useless without
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freedom. I'll be going. This side of the street. It
[00:03:58] Unknown:
does, except one last question. If you could save the Union only by freeing the slaves, would you do that? I would.
[00:04:09] Unknown:
What are you thinking?
[00:04:11] Unknown:
I'm thinking maybe we're not too far apart. Slavery is a cancer. If it's not cut out of the nation, the Union will die. If my cabinet believed
[00:04:24] Unknown:
that, we'd do it. That's not the key as we see it. It's the one I see.
[00:04:31] Unknown:
Suppose I visit your cabinet members. Maybe I could prove it to them.
[00:04:38] Unknown:
You left the tall, tired man and you talked to the officers in his cabinet. You had a key that could turn the union into a fortress slaveholders couldn't touch. You talked to the chiefs of staff. You talked to the secretary of war. We'd already heard of you.
[00:04:57] Unknown:
You wanna know what I think of your proposals, Douglas? I think I've got an idea already. I'll give it to you in black and white. Clerk? Yes, sir? Hand me a copy of the new instructions to our ministers.
[00:05:09] Unknown:
Right here, mister Seward.
[00:05:12] Unknown:
How the war will end. We're sending it to every government in Europe. It's written so it'll convince even you that we mean to stand by it. Can I read it? If you will. This is our policy. No matter how the war ends, the status of no class of the people of The United States will be changed by the rebellion. The slaves will be slaves still. The masters will be masters still. If any attempt is made by the slaves or their allies to gain their freedom, the Union Army will suppress it with an iron hand. That's our policy hereafter, Douglas. Would you like a copy of it to print in your paper?
[00:05:55] Unknown:
You crushed the copy in your hands, and you walked towards home. You walked through crowds, but you were alone.
[00:06:03] Unknown:
You passed men milling on the streets bewildered over the wall. You heard some mutter as you passed. Sure. I'll fight for the union, but I ain't even listen to fight fight to free no slaves. What's the difference? Ain't fighting fighting? Freeing slaves ain't fighting. It's foolish. I don't see it that way. Well, let's hear Lincoln's gone too far. The war's a mistake. Come to terms with the Confederate States, I say. That sense. Let the South have the slaves. Let us alone. We ain't fighting to free the slaves. Then why are we sending the boys off to fight? Oh. Because of guys like him. That's why. Who? Who are you talking about? Him walking around free and easy. He's the cause of it. Look at him. Yeah. Let's show him. Come on, guys. Get him. Come on, Joe. Get him. Get him. Get him. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out.
[00:06:49] Unknown:
Get
[00:06:54] Unknown:
thought they could be free only when you were in chains. You ran and your heart was sick. You ran home to your print shop to Anna and your sons. They had been waiting to print your story.
[00:07:07] Unknown:
Where?
[00:07:08] Unknown:
Louis, George, get some water. Dad, what happened to you? Your coat bloody bad.
[00:07:14] Unknown:
What's the matter? Who did it? Numbs, boys. Stand away and let your father alone. You talk whenever he's ready. Sit here Fred. I'll be alright.
[00:07:24] Unknown:
Are the papers ready? One addition, Ben. We waited for you to set up the headline story. Did you see the president? You see Lincoln? Boys, let him alone.
[00:07:32] Unknown:
He needs rest. Can't your eyes tell you what happened you needn't ask? There are mobs roaming the streets hating what the war's about. Leave them after your father. You'll stay in and rest now Fred. Never mind then.
[00:07:47] Unknown:
I'm alright. I'll write my story. Hey, Louis. Yes, dad? Set the title. Let the new edition go out this evening. And the story? It'll be about the war. Headline it, to save the union, free the slave. Is that what the president said? That's what I say.
[00:08:08] Unknown:
That's what the people will learn. Was Lincoln the way you thought he'd be, Dan? Was he for freeing the slaves? Not now. Well, then what good is he to us? Is that the president you you preach for people to vote for? Is that the man you lost your friends to fight for? Lewis,
[00:08:25] Unknown:
before you judge Lesnar, it's true he doesn't see the war right yet. Then he's no different from the others. He is different. He has a way of reasoning and sort of looking squarely at things. And he's free from prejudice. When a man's free from prejudice, it's not hard to show him a mistake.
[00:08:56] Unknown:
You watched the soldiers marching southward, but they brought back few victories. You knew men fought best when they believed in what they fought for. Some cried the war was about states' rights, but you knew a stronger cry on the ground, the cry of freedom for millions of people. You watched the soldiers march south, and in the morning, you decided to go with them.
[00:09:21] Unknown:
I'm going down to the army camps, Anna. I can't say how long I'll be gone.
[00:09:27] Unknown:
I heard you.
[00:09:28] Unknown:
I don't wanna leave you and the boys, but someone's got to go into the camps and report to the people why we're losing the war. Some of the generals know me. I can talk to them. If you couldn't influence the president, how can you influence the generals? If the state's policy toward the slaves is the right one,
[00:09:47] Unknown:
I won't be able to.
[00:09:49] Unknown:
If it isn't, we can report it. Louis, George. Yes, father? Yes? You go on printing the papers as before. Print the stories I send back and keep the paper going. They tried to stop us from delivering. Deliver them anyway. Spread them as far as you can.
[00:10:07] Unknown:
I'll write what they're saying in the camps in Florida, Carolina, and Virginia.
[00:10:11] Unknown:
Are you taking me with you, Dan? It's too dangerous for a boy just grown. Your time for danger will come, Louis. Be ready for it. It's more important now that you deliver every paper we print.
[00:10:26] Unknown:
Then you followed the soldiers. You saw how the war was being fought and lost. You talked to officers and men in camps facing Confederate armies. You wrote down what the general said in his tent while rebel cannon cut through the night.
[00:10:43] Unknown:
Yeah. We lost the battle of bull run and we're losing this one. Why? Hands are simple. We need men, men, men. Competitors out numbers? No. Not that so much. The rebels have got slaves. Slaves are made to build their garrisons and fortifications. Slave labor allows them to put every fighting man in the field.
[00:11:03] Unknown:
They didn't have that.
[00:11:05] Unknown:
There's a way to take it away from them, general. What are you hitting at? General. General Butler. I said not to interrupt me. I know, sir, but we're coming into camp again. We can't drive them off, sir. You've got to drive them off. You know the orders. Some of them won't go, sir. Not without
[00:11:20] Unknown:
Without shooting? Then shoot. Yes, sir. I'll tell the guard. Enemy coming through our lines? Oh, no. No. Keep your seat. It's not the rebels he's talking about. Who then? Fugitive slaves. They escape by the hundreds now. Sometimes they come in bringing their master's guns along. They swarm over into our lines, taking up with us. And you drive them back? I've got to. Sometimes I don't know if we're fighting the fugitives or the rebels. Sometimes I think if we gave them guns, took them in What would happen? I know what would happen.
General Fremont declared all slaves free after his first victory in Louisiana. President reversed it. They called him down for it. I don't take any chances. I send them back even if I have to send bullets after them.
[00:12:14] Unknown:
You told that to the people through your paper. You went deeper into the lines of the army and told them of the colonel who went to war with one army and came back with another.
[00:12:26] Unknown:
Your army has changed colors, colonel. How did this happen? I've brought back a full regiment, sir. He left New York with white troops to come to my camp six months later with black troops. When we attacked at Baton Rouge, our men were shot up. Oh, shot up men don't change colors and march back. I sent for reinforcement, sir. None came.
[00:12:45] Unknown:
The rebels were attacking us on all sides. None of us expected to get out alive. We didn't have men enough to dig trenches. Then the fugitives came in. You remember your orders about them? Yes. I remember the orders, sir. And I also remembered we'd all die if we didn't get help. We took them in and gave them guns. They manned the trenches. When the battle was done, I had lost most of my original regiment. So I trained the fugitives,
[00:13:10] Unknown:
four thousands of them. Your orders were to send them back to their masters. As I said, sir,
[00:13:15] Unknown:
there are 4,000 out there with guns. They'll fight on our side or against us. I want them on our side.
[00:13:26] Unknown:
You saw the staggering armies filled with fugitives. You saw some beaten and thrown back in hell for their masters, but still they kept coming, fighting their way from the slaveholders. And the men in the army were changing. You heard a guard say, You want my story, mister?
[00:13:45] Unknown:
They put me on guard to push back the fugitives, but I don't do it anymore. I let them come in. They come in garbed in rags or in silks, in shoes or no shoes, families in singles, and I take them in. I don't tell a general, but I take them in.
[00:14:02] Unknown:
You talk to fugitives with their borrowed gun, walking along the roads, living outside the camps. You wrote the other night you walked along the road with an old ex slave carrying his own gun to join a union skirmish. You ask him about the war.
[00:14:18] Unknown:
Somehow, I'm not much worried about how the war turn out. We come into the camp. They drive us out. But when there's too many of us to keep, I've been in 10 rage yet they say I ain't a regular army man. They say the war ain't for freedom and what they're shooting about. They say when the war's over, they send me back the old master. And I say when a man get a little freedom, he never forget the taste of it. Don't, sir. Let them say what they want. I got a feeling out of the wall coming out. I don't give you that feeling.
[00:14:55] Unknown:
Who had led the Underground Railroad, who was leading scouts for the Union Army. You talked to Harriet Tubman, who'd been in the dozen battles. She told you how they were.
[00:15:07] Unknown:
The lightning. And then we hear the thunder. That's the big guns. And then we hear the rain falling. Those are the drops of blood falling. And when it's time to take in the crops, it's dead men we reap. You tell your paper, Douglas, we're gonna reap freedom out of this, or there'll always be thunder.
[00:15:34] Unknown:
You put her words down so your sons could print them and carry them to the people at home. You put down the words of fugitives and generals, officers and men who wanted to find a way to make the war worth fighting and the union worth saving.
[00:15:49] Unknown:
Tell them we can't win a war against the fugitives and the Confederates. It's got to be one or the other, Douglas. One or the other. Tell them back home, Douglas, that a thousand freedmen on our side is better than a thousand slaves helping the rebels. Tell them we've stopped driving them out of the camps. Tell them we're changing our mind about what the war is for. Tell them we're changing our mind.
[00:16:13] Unknown:
And you took the words to the papers and to the tall man in the White House. He called you in. And listen.
[00:16:21] Unknown:
You've made a good report, Douglas. What are you gonna do about it, mister president?
[00:16:26] Unknown:
We're not winning the war. Oh,
[00:16:29] Unknown:
the war is not going well. We've been careful not to make a false move, but I believe I know a mistake when I see one. I'm ringing for the secretary of war and his aide. They've read the reports. I'll put it up to them. Did you ring, sir? Yes. Tell Seward and mister Johnson to come in. Tell them Douglas is here. Yes, mister president. My cabinet never agrees with me, but the facts and figures you've shown me are pretty stubborn things, Douglas. This policy is not holding the union together. Want me, mister Liggett? Has general Grant reported yet, sir? What's happened? It's not Grant's report I wanna discuss, gentlemen. It's Douglas'. Oh, you Douglas'. Yes. You've read it.
You know how the war is going. I am thinking, gentlemen, that we've made a serious blunder in not taking Negro troops into our ranks. You know why we can't do it, mister Lincoln. We will support in the border states, mister president. They'd be right. Without them, we're losing the war, and that's what I am concerned about. I know we've got thousands in the North who have no idea of the real meaning of the war. No one was prepared for it. Our manpower's dwindling. You know how. Seriously. Gentlemen, I I am thinking of asking Douglas to help recruit as many regular Negro regiments as he can. Slave regiments, sir? That would never work, mister president. Our best commanders are already working them. They're ahead of us.
Thousands are already fighting on our side. We're late in recognizing the value. There'll be a hundred thousand deserters if slaves come officially into the army. Then we'll replace them with a hundred thousand fugitives. Mister Douglas thinks the union will never prosper unless their labor and strength are turned to our side, and I agree. Mister Douglas thinks we can ever win without emancipation. He'll be demanding that next. He's demanded it already, gentlemen. The cause of the union comes first. We started the war with no intention of touching slavery, yet slavery is the root and kernel of the war.
It's not free men alone who will determine whether we'll have a union. It's 4,000,000 slave workers now on the side of the Confederates trying to get to our side. Our side's holding its own, mister president. A few setbacks or not. It's not the setbacks that have decided me. It's plain arithmetic. With the labor supply the Confederates have got, we wouldn't win win even if we sacrificed every white man in the North. Our chance is at the future with the fugitive slaves and the slaves behind the enemy lines. Hereafter, we'll welcome them into our ranks.
I'm asking Douglass to start recruiting their regiments. I believe regiments of trained freedmen will have an unusual effect on the nerves of the slaveholders. It'll be our strongest blow.
[00:19:31] Unknown:
You went out to build up the strongest blow. You went to the platforms and halls and spoke to the fugitives and freedmen. You talked to those who had been driven out of the camps. You asked them to come back. You spoke in the streets and they listened.
[00:19:48] Unknown:
Freedmen, slaves, fugitives, the hour is coming when The United States will be a land ruled not by one race, but by one people. When the first shot was fired on Fort Sumter, I said it would liberate strike at its roots. Join strike at its roots. Join the fight. Forget the past. It's now or never. Better to die free than live slave.
[00:20:33] Unknown:
You urged 50,000 to join the regiments, and you went home to write your paper, and you found you'd recruited two men you hadn't counted on. Anna was home running the paper alone. Anna,
[00:20:48] Unknown:
where are the boys?
[00:20:50] Unknown:
Wasn't it enough to send others to fight? Did you have to send our sons?
[00:20:55] Unknown:
Louis, George.
[00:20:56] Unknown:
They've gone. I didn't wait for you to come back. Enjoy the new regiment.
[00:21:02] Unknown:
I see.
[00:21:04] Unknown:
They've done right. They were the only children I had. You know the rebels' law against them. If they're captured, they're hanged. Don't talk that way, Anna.
[00:21:14] Unknown:
What I said for others, I have meant for my own sons too. They'll be fighting to free us all. Isn't slavery still the law of the land? We're changing that, Anna. Who'll change it? It's a changed thing already. The war's changed. Lincoln don't see to that. He's given his word that it won't touch slavery. He's given his word to save the union. The only way to save the union now is to strike down slavery. I think mister Lincoln will see it. Now let's see our sons off the wall.
[00:21:46] Unknown:
You saw your sons march off in the new regiment of General Putnam. You watched them go, and you went back to your printing press to make it clear what the war was about. You told the people what you saw in the war.
[00:22:00] Unknown:
We're fighting for something incomparably better than the old union. Freedmen, fugitives, we're fighting for unity of ideas, unity of sentiment, unity of objects in which there shall be no North, no South, no East, no West, no black, no white, but a solidarity of the nation naming every slave free and every free man a voter.
[00:22:27] Unknown:
You told those who still doubted the war's end.
[00:22:30] Unknown:
Whether men slow call it or not, the war for the union is the war for emancipation. Emancipation. There'll be freedom for all
[00:22:39] Unknown:
or chains for all.
[00:22:42] Unknown:
And you told him about Lincoln.
[00:22:44] Unknown:
You can trust this man from Illinois. He may be slow,
[00:22:49] Unknown:
but he's not a man to retract or retreat. When he moves, he moves forward.
[00:22:56] Unknown:
While men fought for the idea of one nation or two, the president invited you to call on him. You told him
[00:23:05] Unknown:
I prophesied doom if we go on with slavery, mister Lincoln. And I am beginning to believe you're right, Douglas.
[00:23:12] Unknown:
There's pressure to make peace now, but it would put the bondsman back further than they are.
[00:23:17] Unknown:
Would it save the union? After a a fashion.
[00:23:21] Unknown:
We are not winning the war, Douglas. We still need more troops, more volunteers. We need workers to raise food for the armies and man the factories. Those you recruited weren't enough. Can we get more?
[00:23:36] Unknown:
Yes. We can recruit more. You know how many? 3,000,000 more. 3,000,000 more new citizens. With an Emancipation Proclamation, the trickle of fugitives will become a flood. Emancipation. That's the key to winning the war and uniting the nation. Even the Confederate generals seek laws to free slaves. Now if the Union Army calls for emancipation first, the rebels can do nothing but surrender. You can tell your cabinet that they have the key to crippling the Confederacy. The key is freedom. Proclaim it.
[00:24:16] Unknown:
I may. When the reports come in from the field this week, when I've had time to think this through further, it
[00:24:24] Unknown:
may be done. Mister president. Yes? A message come in from general Putman's regiment, sir. Yes. What is it? It's been nearly wiped out at Fort Wagner, sir. Fort Wagner Soldiers wiped out? Yes. That's what the general said. I'd like a pass to visit the grounds.
[00:24:39] Unknown:
My
[00:24:40] Unknown:
sons were in that regiment. Yeah. I'll give you the pass, Douglas. When you come back, maybe we can finish our talk about the key to the union.
[00:24:54] Unknown:
You left, and you forgot the fight to free 3,000,000 people. You stumbled through the battlegrounds looking for signs of two sons. In the morning, you found one. Wounded feverish, it was Lewis. He couldn't see.
[00:25:09] Unknown:
Lewis. Do you know me, son? I'm your father. You father? Yes, but we're taking you home. The doctor said that you can go home now.
[00:25:21] Unknown:
But what did Lincoln say? You never told me.
[00:25:26] Unknown:
Lincoln hasn't said yet, son. But I believe when you're well again, you'll be in a free land.
[00:25:40] Unknown:
You moved about the fields and swamps and found your sons and worked in the camps and helped dig the trenches until the enemy was stopped. Then you came home and were going back to your press and printing. When the president called you late at night, he'd been up writing. He said
[00:26:00] Unknown:
My friends say I am slow, Douglas. My enemies say I move too fast. I wanted you here tonight because we'll move faster than we've done in a hundred years. Yes. I have a proclamation.
[00:26:15] Unknown:
Does it free the slave? It saves the union.
[00:26:19] Unknown:
Your proposals were right, Douglas. No human power can stop the war without emancipating the slaves. Even my cabinet can see this now. Shall I read the proclamation?
[00:26:33] Unknown:
And he took the thin paper with words strong enough to free millions,
[00:26:39] Unknown:
and he read I, Abraham Lincoln, president of The United States, by virtue of the powers in me vested, do this January 1863, proclaim that all persons held as slaves within the state in rebellion against The United States shall be henceforward and forever free. And upon this, I believe to be an act of justice, war under the constitution. I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind at the gracious favor of almighty god.
[00:27:21] Unknown:
And you folded the paper and went home to your printing. There were still soldiers in the streets and cannon in the valleys, but you knew the war was won. It was the beginning of a nation of free people.
[00:27:37] Unknown:
Oh, freedom. Oh, freedom.
[00:27:44] Unknown:
Oh,
[00:27:46] Unknown:
freedom over me. And before I'd be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave and go home to my lord and be free.
[00:28:20] Unknown:
Just heard Destination Freedom's dramatization of the story of Frederick Douglass brought to you by the Chicago Defender and WMAQ's Department of Education and Public Affairs. Destination Freedom is written by Richard Durham, and the production is under the direction of Homer Heck. The cast included Weslyn Tilden, Ernie Andrews, Boris Aplin, Oscar Brown Junior, Maurice Copeland, Don Gallagher, Art McCoo, Cliff Norton, Fred Pinkard, and Jess Pugh. The singer was Greg Pascal. Richard Shores composed the special music, which was played by Elwyn Owen and Bobby Christian. This is Charles Chan inviting you to be with us again next week for another in our series on the Negro in democracy, destination, freedom.
This is WMAQ NBC in Chicago.
Introduction and Theme Song
The Story of Frederick Douglass
The Civil War Begins
Frederick Douglass and President Lincoln
Douglass Faces Public Hostility
Douglass Joins the Army Camps
Harriet Tubman's Perspective
Lincoln's Change of Heart
Recruiting Freedmen for the Union
The Emancipation Proclamation
Conclusion and Legacy of Freedom
