"Tears of Frederick Douglass" is from the collection of William Raspberry commentary which received the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

Content

1. What is the news peg for this column?

2. Why is Maya Angelou a particularly appropriate individual to read her work to commemorate the life of Frederick Douglass?

3. List the information which Raspberry provides about Frederick Douglass. If you know nothing about Douglass before reading this column, what would you surmise about his life?

4. What research is evident in this column?

5. Note the use of the dash, italics and exclamation point by Raspberry when he repeats "Virginia." A writer usually uses one of the four devices to emphasize or call attention to an idea. What is so significant about a black man being elected governor of Virginia?

6. What Supreme Court case(s) and state or local action has been taken to provide education for all students? Why might Frederick Douglass be interested in education?

Extension

1. Raspberry notes that Douglass would be "overjoyed to see college attendance rates for blacks approaching those of whites." Research the attendance rates from 1990 to 2000. Compare the rates within the ten-year time period and compare them to 1900 and 1950. You might compare college acceptance to college graduation rates.

• You will need to discuss sources for this information.
• What do you need to know to make accurate mathematical comparisons?
• Can other comparisons be made? For example, acceptance and graduation of black and white athletes, law school acceptance and graduation of black and white, male and female data.

2. On July 1, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison appointed Douglass as Minister Resident and Consul General to Haiti. In September of the same year, he also made Charge d’Affaires for Santo Domingo. (You might find it interesting to read more about his diplomatic career. On July 30, 1891, he resigned as Minister Resident and Consul General to Haiti in disgust over maneuvering by State Department and American business to acquire Mole St. Nicolas.)

If Frederick Douglass were alive today, to what position in the federal government would you appoint him? Why?

3. Raspberry praises Maya Angelou. Read some of her poetry and prose. Audio and video tape of the author reading her work is available.

4. Research the following references. Who are the individuals, acts or situations to which Raspberry alludes?

Abolitionist
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou and a presidential inauguration
Frederick Douglass
Fifteenth Amendment
Ford’s Theater
Reginald Lewis
Colin Powell
Douglas Wilder

5. In January 1894 Douglass delivered his last great address, "Lessons of the Hour." It was a powerful statement against the lynch law in the South. Research the practice and law of lynching in the United States. Read newspaper and diary accounts, history books and state law history. You may also seek art, film, fiction and poetry which takes lynching as a topic. How do the artistic accounts compare and contrast to the historic record?

Another Lesson Idea — Time-slip Drama: "Tears of Frederick Douglass"