Let My People Free

In Let My People Free Johnson acknowledged the fraught relationship between Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln during the early years of Lincoln's presidency. Douglass (1818--1895) had fled slavery in 1838 via the Underground Railroad. By the early 1840s, he was helping fugitives cross the border from New York into Canada. Douglass's 1845 book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, as well as his published articles and powerful public speeches made him the nation's most powerful and outspoken opponent of the institution of slavery.

Johnson intentionally placed these towering figures of the Civil War on opposite sides of a table. Although Douglass had endorsed Lincoln's candidacy, he vehemently opposed Lincoln's effort to keep the Union together by allowing Southern states to perpetuate slavery and called Lincoln a "genuine representative of American prejudice and Negro hatred." After the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, Douglass altered his view and acknowledged Lincoln's "deep moral conviction." From then on, Douglass actively recruited African American soldiers to join the Union army (two of his own sons enlisted in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment) and advocated for their equal rights.