Talk:Frederick Douglass

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Tfbaldwin069 (talk) 20:11, 21 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

References

Sidney Morrison published "Frederick Douglass: A Novel" (2024) ISBN 978-09988257-9-3, Hawthorne Books & Literary Arts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tfbaldwin069 (talk • contribs) 20:11, 21 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: To include work in an 'in popular culture' section, we generally request the inclusion of a reliable and independent source. It would help if the work or the author or both were notable enough for their own articles (per WP:WTAF). See Wikipedia:Notability (books) and Wikipedia:Notability (people)#Creative professionals for info on that. Grayfell (talk) 20:33, 21 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Aaron Anthony notability

User:OAnick added brackets to the first mention of Aaron Anthony, which suggests there should be an article about him. I would argue against that, as Anthony's only notability is that he owned Douglass, and was possibly his father, means there should not be a separate article on him. Thoughts? Paulmlieberman (talk) 17:33, 19 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Paulmlieberman:. I am inclined to agree. Full disclosure that I'm running an editathon about the history of abolition for colleagues with no experience of editing Wikipedia and was looking for a screenshot of a relevant article to illustrate citations and wiki links, including a red link. There is some biographical info about Aaron Anthony so redlinked him, though did consider that he may not be notable for the reasons you have outlined.

Another consideration of course was an active talk page so thanks for posting here rather than simply reverting the edit!

On another note, I was wondering how close this article may be to GA status? The process of nominating an article for GA and the community process for review isn't something I've done before. While I'm not a subject expert, I will be working with colleagues who are. Nick Sheppard (talk) 07:45, 21 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for clarifying. I will revert the edit once it has served your purpose (or you can). Let me know when.

As to GA status: I have long wanted to nominate this article for GA, given Douglass' importance. I personally do not have the time to make this happen. I would be glad to support any effort on that front. The fact is, the article is long and a bit disjointed. There are very different approaches, and degrees of "encyclopedia-ness" in various sections of the article, which I feel would need to be addressed to make this a "good article". Paulmlieberman (talk) 14:46, 21 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Douglass was not a philosopher

The editor who added that he was a philosopher cited a source that says merely, "Douglass can be linked to the history of American philosophy, through his participation in national discussions about the nature of and future of the American Republic and its institutions." First, if he can be linked to the history of American philosophy (whatever that means), that does not make him a philosopher, and he wasn't one. Second, "discussions about the nature of and future of the American Republic and its institutions" are not philosophy. Philosophy is "a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, value, mind, and language." That does not describe what Douglass studied. Maurice Magnus (talk) 12:13, 29 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thumbs up. Thanks for the feedback. Zorblin (talk) 20:12, 29 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I just wanted to say that I think we should say slave and not slavery in this passage because I am teaching a 3rd grade class and they are asking me what does enslaved person mean and I want to teach them that is is a slave and not enslaved person. Thank you for your time. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eddiebigelow (talk • contribs) 14:26, 4 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 26 February 2025

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We do not know the exact date of Fredrick douglasses birth so we should put it to 1817-1818 2603:300A:D2F:B200:EF2D:C50E:168D:7120 (talk) 17:37, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Note: please read footnote. M.Bitton (talk) 19:41, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Most Important figure in african american rights in the 19th century

Shouldn't this be changed to one of the most important? Feels odd to make such a definite statement 180.150.80.254 (talk) 10:57, 9 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Summary mouseover text from other articles is vandalized

It has come to my attention that the mouseover text for links to this article from other articles has been vandalized and contains a racial slur. I am both unfamiliar with how to edit the mouseover summary text and also unable to edit a semi-protected page. an example is the abolitionism page:

Abolitionism in the United States

If you go to the link to the Frederick Douglass page from the Abolitionism page and hover over it you will see the slur between "abolitionist" and "orator". JayTeeEll (talk) 04:11, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

ok, so I'm actually able to edit the semi-protected page now. I was lacking the auto-confirm before. But I'm still trying to track down how the slur is getting into the page preview, since its not in the actual page text. JayTeeEll (talk) 04:46, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

So, just to make it convenient here for an example, here is the link to the page and if you hover over it you should see the slur in the page preview.

Frederick Douglass

JayTeeEll (talk) 05:37, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved Ref discussion at the help desk. Similar issues has been reported at the talk page for Africa and the admin noticeboard

Birthdate

This page uses "circa. February 14, 1818" as his birth date. As disappointing as it is, we don't know his exact birth date. Obviously, that's what the "circa" is for. But we should ask ourselves why do we consider it to be approximately February 14, 1818? Douglass himself believed he was born in February 1817 while his owner's record documented it as February 1818. He was always a year younger than he believed he was. But the February 14th part is completely unfounded. No historical records suggest his exact date of birth is known nor that any date in February is more likely than another. The reason we consider February 14th to be his birthday is because Douglass chose to celebrate it on that day. But you can't just pick a random day and that's now officially your birthday even if that is the day you celebrate it. Thus, Wikipedia should take the stance that Douglass was born in "circa. February 1818" or just "February 1818" (as historical records do show that he was born in February 1818). - MountainJew6150 (talk) 03:57, 10 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 23 June 2025

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When Douglass visited Mr. Auld near the end of Auld's life, it's not quite right to state that the two men were reconciled. Mr. Auld hadn't been wronged by Frederick Douglass. There was no disagreement or dispute between them, which required forgiveness on the part of both men. One had owned the other. A better description of the meeting would be that Mr. Douglass was reconciled to Mr. Auld. See Mr. Douglass' writings on this subject. The piece by National Geographic, "Why Frederick Douglass met with his former enslaver..." is excellent. Kb7duy (talk) 21:24, 23 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

After reading the encyclopedia article we are citing for this and the Nat Geo article you recommended, both specifically say "reconciled" or "reconciliation", so it doesn't seem like we are deviating from those sources. But if you think some other phrasing would more accurately reflect the nuances of the meeting, you could propose more specifically how you think it should be worded. --RL0919 (talk) 22:25, 23 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Reading Latinx Literature

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 26 May 2025 and 16 July 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Gideonajiboye1 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Nayelimorocho (talk) 03:13, 4 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]