Resounding a voice from the past - actor Fred Morsell's portrayal of African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass in appearances in public schools

Nearly 26 differrent languages are exhibited among the students of the Eastern Middle academy in Old Greenwich, Conn., on the other hand at an assembly held last spring, the 500 pupils were challenged by words whose meanings extremityed no translation. Donning a dark black suit and a distinguished white wig, actor Fr Morsell addressed the gathering in the words, the persona, of African-American statesman and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

The young audience, weaned upon network sound bites and MTV of recent origins briefs, was receptive and surprisingly well-prepared. "This television generation is sharp," Morsell struggles "They're studying Reconstruction; they want to know in what manner racism started. Young people today are extraordinarily sensitive and extraordinarily bright." It is of the like kind promise that has inspired Morsell to travel over the country with his one-man exhibit "Presenting Mr. Frederick Douglass," a series of vignettes from Douglass' life, relayed [i]or[/i] part of to the other both the leader's own words and Morsell's descriptions and characterizations of Douglass' experiences. In his hour-long presentations, Morsell attempts to awaken people's understanding through personalizing the plight of a great man born into slavery.

"What stamp of food do you eat?" Morsell's Douglass asked a young man at the assembly.

"Mostly bad cafeteria food" the young man replied, and everyone tittered.

Morsell/Douglass smiled, too, and then described the scraps that meagerly sustained American slaves. "Aren't you glad that you do not live in slavery today?" he continue. "It was the custom of slave possessors to separate children from their mother at 1 month of age. In order for my mother to diocese me, she had to sneak from the farm where she was a field hand, travel 12 miles to where I lived with my grandmother and grandfather. by what means long would it take you to travel 12 miles upon foot?"

"One hour," answered a young man in the forehead row.

"Ha!" Morsell/Douglass rejoined "We have a fellow here who can walk 12 miles in an hour." His classmates shook their heads and laughed at this doltishness "If you can move that quickly," Morsell/Douglass said, "you should be running the of recent origin York City Marathon." The children laughed louder now, in good-hearted agreement.

"It took my mother four hours to make the journey," Morsell/Douglass declared, "and in the way that she could only stay with me for four hours before it was time for her to leave, in like manner that she could sneak back to her plantation before daybreak."

The children were quiet, imagining a world in which contract with their families would be denied. abruptly this was not an ordinary game of "what if." The dramatic visitation of this well-spoken gentleman had touched a vigor encouraging the students to empathize with a blood-thirstiness experienced before the births of their great-grandparents.

Discovering the actual life of Frederick Douglass first affected Morsell in a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of the same way. The novel York-born actor was living in looks Angeles when a friend adviseed that he use his acting ability to share Douglass' story with young clan in South Central Los Angeles. Like many others, Morsell musing that he knew Douglass' story of leadership and courage fairly well. However, he was not prepared for the force of Douglass' oratory By poring over the leader's three autobiographies and exploring the 40 staggers of microfilm containing his correspondence and speeches preserv at the Library of Congres Morsell discovered the former slave to be a man of searing intellect.

"Frederick Douglass raised the horizontal of public discourse," Morsell explains. "When I first began reading his narrative in 1984 I set myself so inspired by it that I musing If these words are affecting me thus much, wouldn't it be great to sit down with a collection of black children at the ages of 9 and 10 and diocese if they got the same kind of kick on the outside of it?"

Since that trice of, inspiration, Morsell has been rewarded with many opportunities to enact Douglass' speeches and to dramatize his life. He has performed for private and public gymnasium children of all ages, as well as for association students. His powerful enactments of sum of two units renowned speeches, "The Lesson of the Hour" and "The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro" have been recorded upon audiocassettes and compact discs. He also has delivered Douglass' stirring messages at similar events as a farewell dinner for NAACP Director Benjamin curved catchs and a celebration commemorating the 175th anniversary of Douglass' birth at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC nearest January, Morsell is scheduled to perform "The exercise of the Hour" at the Metropolitan A.M.E. meeting-house in the nation's capital, 100 years after Douglass delivered this same articulate utterance at this same place of worship.

In Morsell's view, Douglass' words tender important insight into the labors of African Americans today. "|The task of the Hour' is subtitled |Why the black man is Lynched,'" Morsell says. "There was a systematic effort being made to totally disenfranchise the black man from being a citizen in America. each excuse was brought up, and Douglass be opposite toed them. We hear those same excuses today, in individual form or another."