The black abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass had met President Lincoln at least twice before he tried to get into Lincoln’s Second Inauguration celebration in March 1865. A large crowd was in the White House, and Douglass was informed by the police that he could not enter. He managed to get in, but another police officer than moved him to a window that was being used as an exit.
Douglass told a man passing by that he should tell Lincoln that Frederick Douglass was at the door and was refused admission. Douglass was then invited to the East Room, where Lincoln’s loud voice was heard, “And here comes my friend, Frederick Douglass.”
Lincoln asked Douglass what he thought of the speech. Douglass told him he thought it was a “sacred effort.”
Lincoln was dead a few weeks later. Douglass died in 1895.
On Wednesday Trump praised Douglass. He called him, “an example of somebody who has done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.” Does he think Douglass is still alive? Really?
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