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| Frederick Douglass |
Frederick Douglass will celebrate his 199th birthday
on Feb. 14. The elderly wizard, who has been much in the news recently, has led
a remarkable life. He was born into slavery in the mundane American South in
1818. Long retired, he now lives in seclusion in the U.K.
The renowned wizard made news in both the mundane and
wizarding press when the newly elected mundane president mentioned him in a
speech. In the very odd speech, the president mentioned Douglass in
the present tense, stating “Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's
done an amazing job that is being recognized more and more.” This caused a
collective gasp in the magical community.
The new president does not have a magical liaison assigned to him.The magical government cut ties with the mundane government
when this president was elected. He shouldn’t know about Frederick Douglass’s
true identity, or that he’s still living.
Many in the magical community believe
that the president hired rogue dark wizards to get him elected. Did such wizards inform the president that Douglass is alive
and well? The international magical community went into a panic, fearing
exposure of the magical world, leading to an investigation. To the relief of many, it was determined that Douglass had not been outed. It turns out
that the president just has no idea who Frederick Douglass is, which is
disturbing in a different way.
Frederick Douglass became a legend in his own time. Here is a brief account of his exceptional life and distinguished career in both the magical and mundane worlds: Frederick Douglass was an extraordinary child - a dangerous
thing for a black slave in the nineteenth century American South. He was an
orphan who never knew his father and hardly knew his mother, who died when
Frederick was just eight years old. He was raised by his grandmother, Betsy,
who was also a slave.
From a very young age, there was something different about Frederick.
Strange things happened around him. Betsy recognized these incidents as magic.
She remembered stories of magic practitioners from her childhood, told by the
old women. Tales passed down from old memories of Africa, where magic was a
natural part of life.
Betsy convinced Frederick to keep his magic a secret for his
own safety. To be black, a slave, and magical in the American South meant a death sentence. After
all, it was an enslaved black woman named Tituba who was at the center of the
Salem witch trials. Besides, without a wand or magical training, he didn’t have
a way to focus or control his magic properly, she told him.
Frederick was an especially bright and curious child who liked to
experiment. Whenever he was alone he would try to wield his power, but he
couldn’t get it to work right. He discovered, though, that he could sometimes
influence people a bit by his will. He was especially wise for his age, and had
a sense of fair play, so he didn’t use this ability unless it was absolutely
necessary.
When Douglass was six, he suffered another tragic loss. His
owner, an overseer named Aaron Anthony took him from Betsy, and relocated him
to a plantation. Anthony died two years later, and his widow sent Frederick to
her sister-in-law, Sophia Auld, who lived in Baltimore. Mrs. Auld liked the
boy, and taught him the alphabet and to read. Her husband put a stop to it when
he found out because it was illegal to teach a slave to read. Frederick
overheard him tell his wife that if a slave could read, he might learn enough
to desire freedom. This put a spark in Frederick’s mind.
Douglass was determined to continue his education, and decided
to put his powers to good use. He used his gift to get white children in the
neighborhood to help him improve his reading. Eventually his magic allowed him
to get hold of books and to avoid being caught with them. Through these books, Douglass
learned about western philosophy, human rights, literature, and classical
writing. He also learned about Fairyland and fairy folk, like witches and
wizards. He decided to find his fellow magic folk, and learn to use his
gift.
As a teenager, he made several escape attempts, but due of
his lack of magical training, he failed. His owner placed him with Edward
Covey, who was skilled in breaking a slave’s spirit. Covey whipped Frederick
repeatedly, trying to beat him into submission. Finally Frederick mustered
enough magic to stand up to Covey without hitting him, which could’ve resulted
in Douglass being put to death. After a two hour struggle, Covey surrendered,
and never beat Douglass again.
In 1838, Douglass finally escaped to New York City, a town
with a large magical community. He was able to connect with that community and
quickly made friends. Douglass married a witch named Anna, who used a charm to
help him avoid capture by his owner. The couple moved to Massachusetts, where
there was a magical community built around a school of magic. There, Douglass
was finally able to take up his wizard’s training. Frederick also decided to
change his name. He decided on the name Douglass, after a character in the epic
fairy poem The Lady of the Lake, by
Sir Walter Scott. A name from a magical story for his magical new life.
Douglass couldn’t forget about the millions of black people living
in slavery. As a member of the magical community, however, he had to obey laws
against using magic to interfere with mundane society, or using magic on or
around mundane people. Besides, there are some things that even magic can’t fix.
Slavery couldn’t simply be magicked away, and the ills of the world couldn’t be
remedied by waving a magic wand. He believed it would be unethical to do so because all people had the right to self-determination and free will. Besides, people had to learn and grow on their own.
He bravely decided to return to the
mundane world and use his writing and speaking abilities to influence people
and change their hearts and minds. He vowed to the magical government that he
wouldn’t use magic, even if in danger, in order to avoid exposure of the magical
world. He couldn’t even use magic to protect others unless magic was being used
against them. Anna removed her protective charm, and he entered public life in
the mundane world.
Sometime around 1841, Douglass met famed abolitionist William
Lloyd Garrison who hired him as a speaker for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery
Society. By the time he was twenty-five years old, Douglass was touring the
Northeast and Midwest as a speaker with the American Anti-Slavery Society. He
became a very popular speaker, gaining many followers and admirers. Douglass met
Susan B. Anthony while on tour and helped advanced the cause of women’s rights
in addition to abolition.
Frederick Douglass authored three autobiographies during his
public life. The first, Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave was published in 1845, when
he was only 27. That summer, due to the popularity of the book, Douglass began
a speaking tour in the British Isles. He loved this magical place. Because separation
between the magical and mundane worlds wasn’t as strictly regulated as in the
U.S., he was able to mingle in both the mundane and magical communities. He
made many friends – both magical and mundane.
He did much to advance the cause of abolition in the U.S.
among the people of Great Britain and Ireland, and his friends there purchased
his freedom from his owner so that he could truly be free. Frederick befriended
the great sorcerer and alchemist Nicholas Flamel (by this time living in England),
famous for successfully making the Philosopher’s Stone. Flamel was so taken
with Douglass that he took him on as an apprentice.
In 1847, Douglass returned to the U.S. a very famous, and
much admired man. More importantly, he had built strong support for the cause
of abolition. He continued his successful lecture tours, and added the subject
of better education for free blacks to his speeches. In 1855, he wrote and
published another autobiography, My
Bondage and My Freedom.
Douglass met with President Abraham Lincoln at the White House
twice. They met in 1863 to discuss the issues of equal pay and equal treatment
for black soldiers serving in the Civil War. They kept up a correspondence
after that, and met again at Lincoln’s second inauguration reception. Douglass
was the first black person to attend such an event at the White House. The two
planned to meet again, but President Lincoln was assassinated before they got
the chance.
Frederick Douglass continued to help the mundane community
long after abolition was achieved and the Civil War ended. As there was some
limited communication and cooperation between the magical and mundane
governments, Douglass was named Magical Consul to the President of the United
States. He was given official titles to hide his true identity.
Under President Ulysses S. Grant he served as Minister-Resident
and Consul-General to Haiti, and later as Chargé d’Affaires in the Dominican
Republic. While there he resolved a crisis caused by voodoo sorcerers who were
exposing magic by selling their services to and/or using magic against
mundanes. He served as Marshall of the District of Columbia under Rutherford B.
Hayes, and as Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia under James
Garfield.
After fifty-four years of a public life in service to the
mundane world, Frederick Douglass was tired. On February 20th, 1895,
he withdrew from the mundane world by faking his death. Douglass has been very
private in his retirement. He’s said to be unusually spry and youthful for his
199 years. His mentor, Nicholas Flamel, used the Philosopher’s Stone to create
the Elixir of Life, and lived to be over 665 years old. Some suspect that Douglass learned how to make the fabled stone and elixir too.
