Hopper LabsUseful alone. Better together.

Story · A CLOSER LOOK

1862: a profound distance

August 1862

Black-and-white head-and-shoulders portrait of Abraham Lincoln in suit and bow tie, from the NPS history page.

ABOUT THIS STORY

In August 1862, Lincoln met a delegation of Black men and urged them to consider emigration, presenting separation as an answer to racial conflict. Douglass rejected the premise that Black Americans, rather than slavery and prejudice, were responsible for the country’s troubles.

This episode belongs at the beginning of the relationship thread. Lincoln held views deeply unfriendly to the future Douglass sought. The later encounters matter because this was part of the distance between them.

August 1862 · Washington, D.C.

How it unfolded.

Abraham Lincoln →Frederick Douglass →

  1. 1862: a profound distance

    Lincoln’s colonization proposal and Douglass’s response establish how far their relationship would travel.

A CLOSER LOOK

The story behind it.

Lincoln’s colonization proposal and Douglass’s response establish how far their relationship would travel.

The proposal in its own words

The August 14 address describes colonization in Central America and asks the delegation to help lead it.

Douglass’s answer

Douglass’s response placed responsibility on slavery and the country’s treatment of Black Americans, rather than accepting departure as the solution.

START HERE

Colonization (opens in a new tab)

Source for 1862: a profound distance: Colonization.

Sources for this closer lookColonization (opens in a new tab)Frederick Douglass · Life and Times (1881) (opens in a new tab)

FOLLOW THE CONNECTIONS

There’s a thread here.

HOPPER THREAD · 7 CONNECTIONS

Lincoln and Douglass: where their paths meet

The thread is about how Lincoln and Douglass were at odds and then their trajectories intertwined. Lincoln grew, and Douglass grew too. Douglass came to judge Lincoln by what a man could do in his time. The lesson is not the harshness; it is the harmony where they ended up.

Black-and-white head-and-shoulders portrait of Abraham Lincoln in suit and bow tie, from the NPS history page.Archival photograph of the crowd and platform at Lincoln’s second inauguration at the U.S. CapitolBlack-and-white seated portrait of older Frederick Douglass, with white hair, dark waistcoat, and hands visible.Black-and-white head-and-shoulders portrait of Abraham Lincoln in suit and bow tie, from the NPS history page.Black-and-white head-and-shoulders portrait of Abraham Lincoln in suit and bow tie, from the NPS history page.

Explore the original.

Follow the original source to explore the work in its own context.

Colonization (opens in a new tab)Frederick Douglass · Life and Times (1881) (opens in a new tab)
Sources & credits

Introductions are grounded in the sources below. Collection notes and reading prompts provide an editorial starting point; personal opinions are identified in the collection’s content.

Black-and-white head-and-shoulders portrait of Abraham Lincoln in suit and bow tie, from the NPS history page.

National Park Service · Abraham Lincoln

Open the source (opens in a new tab)