{"id":23203,"date":"2025-11-03T12:25:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/23203\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T12:25:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:25:07","slug":"frederick-douglass-1870-visit-to-allentown-will-be-recreated-in-courthouse-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/23203\/","title":{"rendered":"Frederick Douglass’ 1870 visit to Allentown will be recreated in courthouse program"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his day, Frederick Douglass was known as one of the world\u2019s most powerful orators, a piercing voice of conscience in the slave debate.<\/p>\n

On April 8, 1870, five years after the Civil War settled that debate, Douglass came to Allentown and addressed a capacity crowd in the Gold Courtroom at the Historic Lehigh County Courthouse.<\/a><\/p>\n

The courtroom doesn\u2019t look much different now than it did then. And on Nov. 8, it will welcome Douglass again, as portrayed by scholar and historical reenactor Darius Wallace.<\/p>\n

The free program is sponsored by the Lehigh County Historical Society<\/a> in cooperation with President Judge J. Brian Johnson and the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County.<\/p>\n

It will start at 1 p.m. and last about an hour. That\u2019s roughly half the duration of Douglass\u2019s 1870 speech, \u201cThe Composite Nation,\u201d in which he reflected on immigration \u2014 a major topic at the time because of the influx of Chinese workers who helped build the country\u2019s railroads.<\/p>\n

That speech was a paid affair, with tickets ranging from 50 to 75 cents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a packed courthouse,\u201d said Jill Youngken, assistant director and chief curator of the historical society. \u201cStanding-room only. Because he was such a national figure, people came to hear him and certainly valued what he had to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallace, who has portrayed Douglass in movies and TED Talks, will deliver another speech that Douglass frequently offered, on the importance of \u201cThe Self Made Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very uplifting talk on how basically to be a good person,\u201d Youngken said. \u201cWe thought it was very inspirational and something people would be very interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland in 1818. He escaped to the North in 1838 and became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining renown for his intellect and eloquence. He was also a vocal advocate for women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

In 1845, he published the first of his three autobiographies, \u201cNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.\u201d It became a foundational document of the abolitionist cause.<\/p>\n

News that he would visit Allentown generated considerable excitement.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCrowded audiences everywhere throughout the United States have been listening with delight to his eloquent utterances,\u201d a story in the Lehigh Valley Register newspaper said. \u201cTickets have been sold in large numbers and only a few remain. Everyone should hear him who has the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same sentiment holds true today \u2014 Youngken suggested people get to the courthouse early because a good-sized crowd is expected. She predicted the performance will be especially moving.<\/p>\n

The courthouse is at 503 W. Hamilton St.<\/p>\n

Morning Call reporter Daniel Patrick Sheehan can be reached at 610-820-6598 or dsheehan@mcall.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his day, Frederick Douglass was known as one of the world\u2019s most powerful orators, a piercing voice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,182,139,432],"class_list":{"0":"post-23203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}