Frederick Douglass's Curious Audiences: Ethos in the Age of the Consumable Subject

By Terry Baxter

Book Overview

This book attempts to answer a fundamental question: How did Douglass manage to persuade anyone about the evils of slavery, and even impress viewers with his personal qualities, when his speeches were commonly considered mere entertainment, in the same category as Barnum's circus acts? In answering this question, Terry Baxter provides a means of understanding the positive responses of Frederick Douglass's white audiences and African American celebrities' roles as both objects of consumption and vehicles for social change.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415762685
• ISBN13: 9780415762687
• Release Date: August 2014
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 194 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"