TBM Records, Recordings of Frederick Douglass Speeches,
by Fred Morsell

"Frederick Douglass's Greatest Speeches" a spoken word, audio series produced by TBM Records and delivered by Fred Morsell To order directly from TBM Records Click Here

Following his one man, two act play "Presenting Mr. Frederick Douglas" , members of the audience frequently say to Fred Morsell, "I so enjoyed your performance, it was rivetting. I kept wondering, though, what did Mr. Douglass's speeches sound like." In response to such curiosity and in order to give listeners the opportunity to hear the splendor of Frederick Douglass's wisdom, spirit and intelligence, TBM has produced a spoken word audio series Frederick Douglass's Greatest Speeches. For further information on Fred Morsell, please go to www.frederickdouglass.org

Why I Became A Woman's Rights Man The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro The Lesson of the Hour

Edited and abridged by Frederick A. Morsell
Recorded August 18, 1992, released January 1993
48 minutes

Audio Cassette	ISBN 1-883210-00-3	$11.99
Compact Disc	ISBN 1-883210-01-1	$13.99


The Rochester (New York) Ladies Anti-Slavery Society in 1852 invited Frederick Douglass to give a Fourth of July Oration commemorating the United States' 76th birthday. Mr. Douglass agreed to speak, but not on that date, saying, "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." Delivered on July 5th, 1852 at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro is considered the greatest anti-slavery speech leading to the Civil War. It reminds listeners of the noble truths upon which the United States was founded, delineates the horrors of the slave system, and calls upon all Americans to make the freedoms and justice celebrated on the 4th of July a reality for all Americans.

Edited and abridged by Frederick A. Morsell
Recorded September 22, 1992, released January 1993
72 minutes.

Audio Cassette	ISBN 1-883210-02-X	$11.99
Compact Disc	ISBN 1-883210-03-8	$13.99

The Lesson of the Hour was first delivered at the historic, Washington, D.C. Metropolitan African American Methodist Episcopal Church on Sunday, January 9, 1894. One hundred years later to the day, the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church invited Mr. Morsell to reenact the speech. The performance was reported on the front page of The Washington Post the next day, resulting in Bill Moyers' inviting Mr. Morsell to return to Washington to film the speech for the February 1994 Bill Moyers Journal. Both somber and electrifying, The Lesson of the Hour exposes the injustices, frantic rage and savage extravagances exacted upon the Negro after the Civil War.

Of Mr. Morsell's performance, The New York Times said, "Even 100 years later, sadly enough, the speech goes to the very heart of the black experience in America. The standing ovation given to Mr. Morsell, whose sonorous voice stems in large part from his background as a lyric baritone, is clearly and deservedly heartfelt."

It was during the Chicago World's Fair of 1892, also known as the Columbian Exposition, that Frederick Douglass began writing The Lesson of the Hour: Why Is The Negro Lynched. Two events conspired. The Columbian Exposition was lily white and gave no mention and accorded no honor to a single African American man or woman. Frederick Douglass was enraged and despondent that the rights and justice so sorely fought for during the Civil War, and aspired to during Reconstruction, were being overridden by an epidemic of mob violence, racism and color prejudice. While in Chicago, he also met the brilliant, brave and black anti-lynching crusader and journalist Ida B. Wells who told Douglass first hand of the vicious lynchings taking place throughout the South. Miss Wells encouraged and rekindled in Douglass the fire to write one last, great speech. He did and, at age 76, one year before his death, delivered The Lesson of the Hour: Why Is The Negro Lynched, a powerful, passionate and incisive speech which describes the persistent causes of racism and color prejudice in America--and proposes a solution: justice!

A remarkable synergy existed between Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and 19th century America's abolitionist and suffragist women. To hear Douglass's defense of women's rights and his tribute to the women who shaped and shared his life is to feel we have been touched by the mighty spirits of many indomitable women and by the soul of Frederick Douglass.

Order Page   |   Top of Page Why I Became A Women's Rights Man.......... Hear a Real Audio Clip ! Edited and abridged by Frederick A. Morsell Recorded March 29, 1995, released August 26, 1995 76 minutes. Audio Cassette ISBN 1-883210-04-6 $11.99 Frederick Douglass "had hardly brushed the dust of slavery from his feet and stepped upon the free soil of Massachusetts" when he met Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Of that meeting he said, "I shall never forget how she unfolded her views to me on this question of the exclusion of women from having a hand in the governing of herself...Mrs. Stanton knew it was not only necessary to break the silence of women and make her voice heard, but woman must have a clear, palpable and comprehensive measure set before her, one worthy of her highest ambition and her best exertions." It was Frederick Douglass, and not another woman, who seconded Mrs. Stanton's resolution at the first women's rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York in July 1848 "that it was the duty of the women of this country to secure their sacred right to the elective franchise." Mr. Douglass continued up to the day of his death in 1895 to articulate and defend equality for women. The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on August 26, 1920 and American women exercised their right to vote for the first time in the November 1920 national election. Since his portrayal of Douglass in the CBS Bi-Centennial special, We, the Women, Fred Morsell has been intrigued by Frederick Douglass's support of women. Producer Tanya Bickley finds Mr. Douglass's vision of men and women as co-inheritors of the earth, its responsibilities and its rewards a welcome message and one to be enjoyed by women and men. Together Mr. Morsell and Ms. Bickley spent over a year choosing from 50 years of Mr. Douglass's writings on women. Mr. Morsell then forged the choices into one stirring and comprehensive piece, Why I Became A Woman's Rights Man, an actual Douglass speech. In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, Mr. Morsell delivered Why I Became A Woman's Rights Man at the Ford's Theatre, The Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York and at Smith College the weekend of August 25th, 1995. Simultaneously, TBM released Why I Became A Woman's Rights Man on August 26th to honor the signing of the 19th Amendment and Mr. Douglass's historic role in that process.