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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, MAY 28-JUN 3, 2025  
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_ Frederick Douglass’s Unusual Book Tour (1845), Andrew Johnson
Goes His Own Way (1865), Fight the Power (1975), The ACLU Takes a
Stand (1970) _

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_FREDERICK DOUGLASS’S UNUSUAL BOOK TOUR (1845)_

MAY 28 IS THE 180TH ANNIVERSARY of the publication of “Narrative of
the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written By
Himself”. 

Before the book’s 1845 publication, Douglass had been known in
eastern Massachusetts political circles as a powerful abolitionist
orator. The appearance of his well-crafted autobiography, an instant
best-seller that was quickly translated into French, German and Dutch,
turned him into a public figure throughout North America and western
Europe.

Having revealed that he was a self-emancipated slave who had fled the
South less than seven years previously, Douglass soon became concerned
that his former owner might attempt to use the Fugitive Slave Law to
force him back to Maryland. Knowing he would be safe outside the U.S.,
he made the best of his new notoriety and sailed to Europe, where he
embarked on an extended speaking tour of England, Ireland and
Scotland. 

Almost everywhere he went, standing-room-only crowds cheered his
anti-slavery presentations. A group of his admirers, knowing that one
reason he was among them was to avoid arrest, raised the funds needed
to buy his freedom. Once the money was delivered to the former owner
and the manumission papers filed in Baltimore, Douglass could return
to the U.S., which he did 18 months after he had left.
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_ANDREW JOHNSON GOES HIS OWN WAY (1865)_

MAY 29 IS THE 160TH ANNIVERSARY of President Andrew Johnson’s
proclamation of an amnesty for virtually every southerner who had
helped to plan and fight the Civil War.  Johnson had become President
in April 1865, when Lincoln was assassinated just a week after the war
ended, leaving Johnson, who had been a slave owner until 1863, in
charge of setting the policies for putting the Union back together. 

Under Johnson’s leadership, efforts to limit the post-war power of
those who had fought against the Union were largely unsuccessful, as
were efforts to protect and support the millions of people who had so
recently been emancipated, but who lacked any resources needed to
determine their own future.
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_FIGHT THE POWER (1975)_

MAY 31 IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY of the release of the Isely Brothers’
hit single, “Fight the Power (Part 1 and Part 2)”, which was also
the lead song on their hit album, “The Heat Is On.”

In the summer of 1975, I heard “Fight the Power” everywhere I
went, which was appropriate, because the value of fighting the power
was on the minds of a lot of people. 

The Vietnamese people had just triumphed over the power of the USA and
its allies after more than two decades of fierce fighting. The fight
against the criminal Nixon gang that had been in control of the White
House for six years was going better than had once seemed possible;
Nixon had been forced to resign; many of his henchmen were either in
jail for their crimes or about to start serving time; both the CIA and
the FBI were getting the toughest going-over they had ever
experienced, not only because of their connections to Watergate but
because an outraged Congress was finally using its legislative and
investigative powers to bring them to account; anti-war demonstrators
who had brutally, and falsely arrested at Nixon’s orders were
winning huge damage awards in federal courts. 

Overseas, in addition to the USA’s defeat in Vietnam, the Portuguese
people, who had emerged from more than four decades of facism, were
nationalizing the banks and the insurance companies and granting
independence to the progressive forces they had been fighting against
in Africa.

Dancing to a song about fighting the power felt very right. You can
listen to “Fight the Power” and the rest of “The Heat Is On”
album here: [link removed]
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_THE ACLU TAKES A STAND (1970)_

JUNE 3 IS THE 55TH ANNIVERSARY of the American Civil Liberties
Union’s declaration that the U.S. war against Vietnam was
unconstitutional and call for the war’s “immediate termination.”
Doing so was a major departure from tradition by the ACLU.

Up until 1970, the ACLU had always taken the position that the
decision to go to war was a political, and not a legal question. But
after several years of internal debate, the ACLU Board of Directors
voted by an overwhelming majority that the lack of a Congressional
declaration of war, as required by the Constitution, and the
significant and widespread violations of the civil liberties of the
war’s opponents in the U.S. had created a Constitutional crisis that
could only be resolved by ending the war.
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For more People's History, visit

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* Frederick Douglass
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* Andrew Johnson
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* Islely Brothers
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* American Civil Liberties Union
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