I spoke with the legendary Frederick Douglass today on the Morning Show.
Not Mr. Douglass himself- what an amazing thrill that would have been – but with a gifted actor named Mel Johnson Jr. who brings Douglass thrillingly and movingly to life in a one-man show, “Frederick Douglass: In the Shadow of Slavery,” which is being performed tomorrow night at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
This is the kind of the program that is always a little bit nerve-wracking for me, because this was someone who has acted in films like “Total Recall,” appeared in television programs like “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” and starred on Broadway in “The Lion King” — and most interesting to me, in the two part finale of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. This is a very successful actor who was having to get up early in the morning to be an interview program on a tiny NPR affiliate, talking with someone he’s never heard of – and it’s easy to imagine all kinds of unpleasant scenarios within that story line. But my fears were completely groundless! Mel Johnson Jr. proved to be a complete gentleman, enthusiastic and thoughtful, and a tremendously articulate and compelling champion of the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass – and I enjoyed every moment of our all-too-brief encounter.
If you go to wgtd.org and click on “Talk” you will be taken to the morning show web page, and the link to the program’s archive, which will allow you to listen to the interview. And if you take the time to do that, make sure you stay with it until 30 minutes in, when Johnson “becomes” Douglass for a few moments. He spoke some of the first lines of the play, in which Douglass is looking back on his life as he revises his memoirs for the third and final time. And he begins to reflect on the Progress he has helped to bring about. . . and the Compromises that were necessary along the way . . . wondering if the balance between the two was wisely chosen. The words were breathtakingly breautiful, but so was Mel Johnson’s voice and inflection as he intoned these powerful and thought-provoking words. In more than twenty years of doing The Morning Show, that moment ranks among the most memorable.
Like most people, I do not know all that I should know about this great American. I read one of his autobiographies during college (it was required of our freshman Paideia class) but for some reason I retained very little of his inspiring story. Then last year, I had the chance to interview John Stauffer, author of “Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln,” and had my eyes opened to the greatness of this man. One of the most remarkable stories in the book is of how Douglass, once he had been freed and subsequently educated, became an active speaker on the topic of abolition. Before long, some of his fellow abolitionists came to Douglass with an amazing observation- Douglass was so brilliant and eloquent that many people in his audiences could not believe that he was a former slave. They advised Douglass (in all sincerity) to alter his speaking style to make it sound more ordinary. (One journalist, covering an abolitionist meeting in 1844, wrote: “Many persons in the audience could not believe that he was actually salve. How a man only six years out of bondage, and who had never gone to school a day in his life, could speak with such eloquence- with such precision of language and power of thought- they were utterly at a loss to devise.”) He disregarded the advice, by the way. And of course his fame and renown eventually took him to the White House for a meeting with President Lincoln- the first time in history that a black man had entered the White House under such circumstances. And until his death in 1895, Douglass worked tirelessly not just on behalf of his fellow blacks, but to bring justice and equal rights to everyone. . . including women. What an extraordinary man he was!
And what could be better, in the midst of an incredibly hectic week, to suddenly find one’s self in the presence of true greatness- in more ways than one.
pictured above: GB with actor Mel Johnson, Jr. right after the end of our interview. His performance is Wednesday night at UW-Parkside, as part of their Arts Alive series.