Transcendentalism

Perhaps it seems strange to see Frederick Douglass, whose character and thought were formed in the furnace of slavery, associated with the Transcendentalists, and indeed it is. Yet one could make the case that in philosophical, literary, and activist terms, his life shows many transcendental parallels, if not direct influences, and he would lecture in Concord and Boston and meet Emerson, Thoreau, Dr. Channing, and Parker, and join them in their support of John Brown.

Like the transcendentalists, Douglass believed in self-development and self-reliance, and few others could show as vividly the value of this philosophy. As a writer, he understood the value of the first-person voice, and he had such a remarkable and inspiring story to tell, as he did many times, waking his neighbors in ways that Thoreau could only hardly imagine. Like them, he had great reason to believe in self-education and was certain that he had a message the world must hear, joining the lecture circuit so well travelled by Emerson and Parker. He was the most eloquent supporter of the cause of abolition, although he broke with William Garrison because,