IHS to honor Frederick Douglass during Black History Month [Video]

INDIANAPOLIS — Just in time for the final full week of Black History Month, the Indiana Historical Society is spending a night honoring the life and legacy of a prominent African American orator and social reformer and his ties to Indiana.

Frederick Douglass first visited Indiana in 1843. He was invited to the Midwest by an anti-slavery movement to speak at engagements across the region.

“While he was here in Pendleton,” said IHS African American Collections Curator Susan Hall-Dotson, “he was mobbed by approximately 30 white men who were pro-slavery.”

Hall-Dotson said Douglass didn’t come back to the Hoosier State until he was 60 years old.

“We often talk about Frederick Douglass in the past, but his words are still with us today,” said Hall-Dotson, “if we analyze and dissect …