The Department of English at 草榴社区 (UAH) would like to extend congratulations to Leslie Leonard (鈥�16 MA English) on their recent publication and discovery on the unpublished text by Frederick Douglass.
Leonard鈥檚 discovery of an unpublished text by Frederick Douglass appears in the Frederick Douglass wrote Slavery in 1894, the final year of his life, for a commissioned Illustrated History of the Afro-American Race. For unknown reasons, the Illustrated History itself was never published, and Douglass鈥檚 essay sat unread and unnoticed in the Library of Congress archives.
鈥淚 was lucky enough to recognize that I did not recognize the text and, with the help of my advisor Nick Bromell, I reached out to John McKivigan and Robert S. Levine (two authorities on Douglass鈥檚 work) to try and identify the essay. Once it was clear that the essay had never been published before in any collection of his works, I reached out to J19, the journal for nineteenth-century Americanists, and offered to edit and annotate the piece as well as provide an introduction to contextualize it for their readers.鈥�
Leonard describes the text and its importance of it today.
Douglass鈥檚 essay itself is 64 pages in length and recontextualizes our understanding of his work. Many readers will have only encountered Douglass鈥檚 abolitionist work, but he wrote and spoke widely on a variety of issues throughout the century. Written at the end of the nineteenth century, Douglass鈥檚 essay contends with the long-lasting effects of U.S. chattel slavery, with continued anti-Black violence, with an increase in white supremacist beliefs, and with the inappropriate memorialization of the Confederacy 鈥� all of which we are still dealing with today. The violences of the past and the present come together in Douglass鈥檚 piece, and I鈥檓 very glad that modern readers will now be able to read it.
As the Department of English celebrates Leonard鈥檚 achievement, they also look back on their time at UAH with admiration.
鈥淚 would not have gotten to a Ph.D. if not for Dr. Alanna Frost, Dr. Joseph Conway, and Dr. Chad Thomas in the UAH English Department. The classes and faculty were so supportive and trained me as both a scholar and as a teacher. I genuinely and honestly would not be where I am without them.鈥�
Leslie is currently using an Andrew W. Mellon short-term fellowship to critically engage with the emergent idea of personal responsibility in the nineteenth century, particularly as it conflicted with established norms of individual duty. They will complete their doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in May 2022.
鈥淭he goal of the Ph.D. for me was always just to get to engage in scholarship and to be in community with other scholars for as long as possible. My program pays me to teach, study, and produce work while collaborating with and learning from others doing similar work. The title itself also means a lot to me since I鈥檓 the first person in my family to attend college.鈥�
For more information on the Department of English and our Master of Arts in English, please contact english@uah.edu.
Correction Update: 2/3/2022