Previously unseen speeches, letters, autobiographies, and photographs of Frederick Douglass and his sons, Lewis Henry, Frederick Jr. and Charles Remond Douglass, from the Walter O. Evans collectionWhile the many public lives of Frederick Douglass - as the representative 'fugitive slave', autobiographer, orator, abolitionist, reformer, philosopher and statesman - are lionised worldwide, If I Survive sheds light on the private life of Douglass the family man. For the first time, this book provides readers with a collective biography mapping the activism, authorship and artistry of Douglass and his sons, Lewis Henry, Frederick Jr. and Charles Remond Douglass. In one volume, the history of the Douglass family appears alongside full colour facsimile reproductions of their over 80 previously unpublished speeches, letters, autobiographies and photographs held in the Walter O. Evans Collection. All of life can be found within these pages: romance, hope, despair, love, life, death, war, protest, politics, art, and friendship. Working together and against a changing backdrop of US slavery, Civil War and Reconstruction, the Douglass family fought for a new 'dawn of freedom'.Marking the 200th anniversary of Frederick Douglass' birth, this first collective history and comprehensive collection of the Douglass family writings and portraits sheds new light not only on Douglass as a freedom-fighter and family man but on the lives and works of Lewis Henry, Frederick Jr., and Charles Remond. As civil rights protesters, essayists, autobiographers, and orators in their own right, they each played a vital role in the 'struggles for the cause of liberty' of their father. As published here, each of their original writings and portraits is accompanied by an explanatory essay and in-depth scholarly annotatations as well as a detailed bibliography.Recognising that the Frederick Douglass that is needed in a twenty-first century Black Lives Matter era is no infallible icon but a mortal individual, If I Survive situates the lives and works of Douglass and his family within the social, political, historical and cultural contexts in which they lived and worked. Each unafraid to die for the cause, they dedicated their lives to the "emancipation of the slave" and to social justice by every means necessary.The Foreword is written by Robert S. Levine and the Afterword is authored by Kim F. Hall.

"The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art features a broad selection of outstanding works from this important private collection. Eighty color plates illustrate the aesthetic legacy created by African American artists over more than one hundred fifty years." "The introduction and scholarly essays will interest students and general readers as well as specialists and museum professionals. Four notable scholars examine the visual, social, and political contexts that influenced the artists. Dr. Evans contributes a personal statement about the joy he finds in collecting - and his desire to advance knowledge of and appreciation for the rich heritage created by American artists of African descent. The Evans Collection reveals the diversity and aesthetic genius of historical predecessors, and reaffirms the vital contributions that African Americans continue to make to the nation's culture."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Evans Collection reveals the diversity and aesthetic genius of historical predecessors, and reaffirms the vital contributions that African Americans continue to make to the nation's culture."--BOOK JACKET.