Frederick Douglass: Slave and Statesman 1983

Directed by Ivan Dixon

This powerful one-person show stars William Marshall (Blacula) as abolitionist and trusted Lincoln advisor Frederick Douglass. Based on Douglass’ essential writings, Sylvia Jarrico’s teleplay dramatizes the highly influential thinker’s life from the period surrounding his birth as an enslaved person through Reconstruction. Dixon trains his incisive video lens directly on Marshall as he addresses the audience, channeling Douglass’ profound insights on slavery, emancipation, suffrage and equal rights for all.