Frederick Douglass, born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in 1818. He was born in the state of Maryland where slavery was legal to a slave mother and a slave owner father. Douglass was best know as a social reformer, orator, abolitionist, writer and a statesman. He published three autobiographies in his life and published numerous works. He also was the publisher of the newspaper The North Star. One of the most eloquent men in American History Frederick Douglass left a lasting memory on the United States that is still seen today.
In "The Self Made Man: Frederick Doulgass A New Story American Play" the life of Frederick Douglass is presented through a one man show. This amazing play was written and performed by Phil Darius Wallace. Wallace was born in Flint Michigan and attend Interlochen Arts Academy. He then attended SUNY Purchase Theatre Arts School in New York. His first professional role was Caleban in William Shakespeare's "The Temptest." Wallace has written numerous one man shows including ones on the lives of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Langston Hughes, and Frederick Douglass. Wallace has also been in films and is finishing up his own movie "100 Lives" a movie he wrote, directed and produced.
The show of Frederick Douglass traces little Freddy from childhood with his grandmother to be taken away and sent to another plantation over twenty miles away when he was around the age of seven. The play uses the knowledge published through Douglass's autobiographies and from the numerous speeches that Douglass gave over the course of his life. The main basis of this play is Douglass' speech "Self-Made Man". The main idea behind it is that "Self-made men […] are the men who owe little or nothing to birth, relationship, friendly surroundings; to wealth inherited or to early approved means of education; who are what they are, without the aid of any of the favoring conditions by which other men usually rise in the world and achieve great results."
The play continues through the story of Douglass' after his escape from slavery and his understanding of the true meaning of what it is to be free. Wallace presents not only Frederick Douglass, but many of the people that he encountered through his live from his grandmother that raised him, to William Lloyd Garrison an abolitionist and one of Douglass's close friends. He also performed Abraham Lincoln during one of the first meeting's between the two men.
After the performance, Wallace took time to do a question and answer and also take pictures for those interested.
As a student I have had the chance to take an amazing class on the African American Experience from the 1600's until the Civil War. This class spent time reading Frederick Douglass' autobiography and from there I continued to read more that he had written and more on the man himself. So while listening to this wonderful production one of the ideas that came into my mind was the speech that Douglass gave at the Chicago's World Fair of 1893, another historical interest of mine. So when I was given the chance to briefly speak with Wallace I asked him if he had ever read about the disgust that Douglass had with the separation of races that was prevalent at the World's Fair. It was a great talk and I hope that I will get the chance to see Phil Darius Wallace perform again.
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