Replay: Nicholas Buccola shares Five Things He's Learned about Freedom, from Frederick Douglass
Check out the first five minutes of his recent class.
“As you may know, Douglass was born into slavery. From his earliest years, he recognized the wrongness of life without freedom and devoted himself to escaping from its terrors. After he was able to do so at the age of twenty, he devoted most of his next six decades to agitating on behalf of the freedom of all people… For about twenty years, I’ve thought about Douglass just about every day and I am excited share some of what I have learned with you.”
– Nicholas Buccola, Five Things I've Learned about Freedom, from Frederick Douglass
Nicholas Buccola is the celebrated author of The Fire Is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America, which explores how the clash between the civil rights firebrand and the father of modern conservatism continues to illuminate America's racial divide. Here’s the first five minutes of Nick’s 90-minute class in which he shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the meaning and value of freedom by studying the life and writing of Frederick Douglass.
Five Things I’ve Learned about Freedom, from Frederick Douglass offers an in-depth exploration of Douglass's life and work to provide a deeper understanding of freedom in our contemporary context. Nick shares his extensive knowledge gained from years of study, writing, and editing Douglass's writings and speeches. His class delves into the importance of personal agency, the interconnectedness of freedom and human connections, the relationship between freedom and equality, the concept of "self-making," and the link between fairness and freedom.
Want to know why Frederick Douglass remains such an essential American figure? This class is for you.
Nick is a veteran at Five Things I’ve Learned, having hosted our four-part series, Five Things I’ve Learned about the Power of the Written Word. His other 90-minute class, Five Things I’ve Learned about Love, from James Baldwin, is an equally great introduction to an essential American.
Nick is a professor of political science and the Elizabeth and Morris Glicksman Chair in Political Science at Linfield University, the author of writings that have appeared in both scholarly journals and the New York Times, Salon; and Dissent; and the author of the acclaimed book The Fire Is Upon Us, for which he received an Oregon Book Award.
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