Frederick Douglass héros complexe

Je vous dirige ici vers un autre article inspiré par la parution récente d'une biographie de Douglass par un historien de Yale dont j'ai mentionné le nom dans une entrée hier (David W. BLIGHT). Effectivement de nos jours on tente d'honorer le personnage, mais également de le récupérer à des fins politiques. C'est ici que le travail complexe et nuancé des historiens prend tout son sens. Non seulement on doit replacer le grand homme dans le contexte de son époque, mais il ne faut pas hésiter à en présenter les parts d'ombre. L'hagiographie ternirait son héritage. Ajoutons à la tentation de la récupération politique la délicate question de l'identité de l'historien et de ses origines. Les sensibilités d'un blanc ou d'un noir sont-elles les mêmes? Dans le mesure où la démarche est transparente, on parvient à construire un récit riche et nuancé en comparant les ouvrages et leurs sources. Plus je lis sur Douglass et plus je le trouve fascinant, autant dans ses forces que dans ses limites.

 "Douglass promised that he would never permit his desire for a government post to mute his anti-racism. He broke that promise. When Hayes nominated him to be D.C. marshal, the duties of the job were trimmed. Previously the marshal had introduced dignitaries on state occasions. Douglass was relieved of that responsibility. Racism was the obvious reason for the change, but Douglass disregarded the slight and raised no objection. Some observers derided him for his acquiescence. He seemed to think that the benefit to the public of seeing a black man occupy the post outweighed the benefit that might be derived from staging yet another protest. But especially as he aged, Douglass lapsed into the unattractive habit of conflating what would be good for him with what would be good for blacks, the nation, or humanity. In this instance, his detractors were correct: He had permitted himself to be gagged by the prospect of obtaining a sinecure.

Douglass was also something of an imperialist. He accepted diplomatic positions under Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, in 1871, and Benjamin Harrison, in 1889, that entailed assisting the United States in pressuring Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) to allow itself to become annexed and Haiti to cede territory. Douglass acted with good intentions, aiming to stabilize and elevate these black Caribbean countries by tying them to the United States in its slavery-free, post–Civil War incarnation. He liked the idea of Santo Domingo becoming a new state, thereby adding to the political muscle in America of people of African descent, a prospect that frightened or disgusted some white supremacists. When Douglass felt that his solicitude for people of color in the Caribbean was being decisively subordinated to exploitative business and militaristic imperatives, he resigned. But here again, Douglass demonstrated (along with a sometimes condescending attitude toward his Caribbean hosts) a yearning for power, prestige, and recognition from high political authorities that confused and diluted his more characteristic ideological impulses."

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-confounding-truth-about-frederick-douglass/573931/