Traveling Freedom's Road: Frederick Douglass in Massachusetts - Paperback

Traveling Freedom's Road: Frederick Douglass in Massachusetts is both a historical narrative of Douglass's lifetime connections in Massachusetts and a detailed travel guide encouraging readers to visit the places in the Commonwealth touched by this exceptional American.

The story begins with Douglass's 1838 arrival in New Bedford after he self-emancipated from his enslaved condition in Maryland. His remarks at an antislavery meeting on Nantucket three years later initially resulted in a trial run with the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. Leading abolitionists realized that Douglass brought unique experiences and talents to the abolition movement. Douglass was soon a permanent fixture on the antislavery lecture circuit.

A move to Lynn, Massachusetts put him closer to the transportation hub of Boston. His tireless and challenging travels across Massachusetts advocating for equality and social justice are presented for readers and travelers in this follow-up book to Traveling Freedom's Road, Frederick Douglass in Maryland.

This Massachusetts-focused book provides individual chapters on New Bedford, Nantucket, Lynn, and Boston. Detail touring information on the places touched by Douglass is shared for readers wishing to visit these churches, lecture halls, private homes, and other places. For armchair travelers, the three-hundred-and-thirty plus page book is graced with over 120 images.

Douglass's presence in Massachusetts went well beyond the four locales receiving dedicated chapters and recommended walking tours. He brought his oratorical talent to dozens of cities, towns, and villages across the Commonwealth. As a result, every Massachusetts county that Douglass visited is included in the book. In the county-focused chapters, the locales he visited are covered selectively within their respective counties. This results in a book that highlights the impact of this great man from Cape Cod to Cape Ann, from Boston to the Berkshires.

A unique aspect of the book is the placement of topical selections from Douglass's writing or his oratory. These segments tie to the place under discussion or to a critical issue of the day and are called Douglass Speaks selections. To provide readers with a sense of the impact this great man had on audiences, some of these Douglass Speaks segments are drawn from eyewitness accounts to Douglass's appearances. In each case, these Douglass Speaks elements add another way and an important way for readers to feel connected to Douglass and the issues he so passionately addressed.

For readers who may not be familiar with the scope of Douglass's life, the book provides a detailed Chronology. The Chronology begins with his ancestral roots on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, continues through the twenty years he endured enslavement in Maryland, and proceeds through next five-plus decades of advocacy and public service. Items in the Chronology that tie to people, places, and events raised in the book are tagged to let readers know where they can go to learn more.

In addition to the Chronology, brief biographical sketches of two dozen key figures in Douglass's life in Massachusetts as well as a comprehensive nineteen-page index are both provided in the back of the book as an aid to readers.