Frederick Douglass: A beginning

- What is the purpose of the two letters of introduction?

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the story about one young slaves pursuit of freedom. As a result, I thought it was interesting that this narrative started with the voices of two individuals who, although abolitionists, had no personal experience fighting for their own freedom. Whether dark irony or simply a sign of the times, that fact that this book required not one, but two Caucasian men to write glowing character references of the African American author speaks more to me about the racist disposition, even in the north, during this time in history.

I especially enjoyed that both William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips felt the need to communicate to the reader that everything Douglass wrote was in fact the truth. Perhaps it never occurred to me that someone would need to lie to make Slavery look bad but apparently people of the day were skeptical about the evil nature of slavery. Perhaps I am looking at History through the both modern and naive eyes, but I don't understand how a person who did not own slaves could convince themselves that slavery was neither harmful nor immoral. Logically, giving complete power over the life of one person to another person will lead to both abuse and corruption.

In closing, the introduction of this novel strongly reminded me of the concept of a co-signer. When I rented my first apartment, I needed my father to act as a co-signer on my lease. By acting as a co-signer, my father  was vouching for my ability to, on a monthly basis, pay my rent. He was also saying that if I was unable to pay my rent, he would be responsible. In the same way, the both Garrison and Phillips use the introduction to "co-sign" on the authenticity and truthfulness of Douglass's narrative. As collateral, Garrison and Phillips offer up their honor and standing within northern antebellum society. Perhaps more than anything else, this "co-signing" of the novel speaks more to me about the authenticity of Douglass's work than the content of the first chapter.