FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO GEORGE WASHINGTON GRIFFITHS¹George Washington Griffiths (1840–1908) was a prominent Louisville physician and military officer. Born in Wales, he was the son of the Reverend Thomas Griffiths and Anne Jeremey Griffiths. After living in Philadelphia for a time, the family arrived in Louisville in 1855, where Griffiths spent the remainder of his life. During the Civil War, Griffiths assisted in raising men for the Fifth Kentucky Infantry Regiment and was appointed a lieutenant. He was later commissioned captain in the Second Kentucky Cavalry and was wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga. Griffiths was captured during Edward McCook’s unsuccessful raid on Atlanta, in July 1864. After several months of confinement in Charleston, he was exchanged and returned to his regiment. Following the war, Griffiths returned to his medical practice in Louisville. He held a multitude of civil service posts during his lifetime, including president of the board of aldermen for twelve years, school trustee for the twelfth ward (Louisville’s African American ward), and president of the Jefferson County Board of Health. Griffiths served on the University of Louisville’s Board of Trustees for thirty years, and at his death was the chief surgeon of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Louisville Courier Journal, 19 November 1866, 11 April 1908.

Washington, D.C. 3 May 1873.

MY DEAR DR. GRIFFITHS:

I am much obliged to you for two Louisville papers—the
and the ²The Louisville Ledger was a Democratic daily newspaper edited by James A. Dawson. It was first issued on 16 February 1871 and ceased publication on 26 April 1876. The daily Louisville Commercial began publication on 29 December 1869 and was succeeded by the Louisville Herald-Commercial in December 1902; that paper ceased publication the following year. The papers were in a constant ideological battle, each often publicly responding to the other in their pages. In its 28 April 1873 issue, the Ledger accused Douglass of profiting off his race: “Fred. can be hired to lead the dusky army through the wilderness paths of their journey to equality with the whites, but the moment the money gives out Fred. vanishes out of sight, and plays Moses no more, until more money is raised.” While the Ledger did not immediately address Douglass’s upcoming lecture in Louisville, on 21 April the Commercial wrote, “His manner is suave and dignified, and will impress itself upon every one. We have no doubt both of his lectures will be attended by a large number of our white citizens.” Louisville Commercial, 21 April 1873; Louisville Ledger, 28 April 1873.—the former containing a complimentary notice and the later an amusingly depreciative notice of me and of my sayings and doings while in your good city. I can honestly express no sorrow
for the pain my visit to Louisville seems to have given the editor of the
. The limit of power is the limit of responsibility. A man
is not to be blamed for what he cannot help. It is no fault of mine that I
am not colored to the taste of the editor of the , and he is a little to
blame for abusing me on that account. The justice and magnanimity of the
are in striking contrast with the contemptuous malignity of
the . My assailant, with all his ribaldry, could make no case against
me without resorting to falsehood. Here is one which I hardly need point
out to you—the only real point made by the . “The fatal mistake
that Fred. Douglass is making in his addresses to negroes is found in the
fact that he seeks to make the impression that the negro race may shape
and in some measure, at least, control the destinies of this country.”³Douglass accurately quotes from the 28 April 1873 issue of the Louisville Ledger.

Now, you who heard all I had to say in Louisville, know very well
that I sought to make no such impression. You will bear me witness that I
held up the idea of negro control of the destiny of the Republic to ridicule,
denouncing the apprehension of such control as groundless and absurd,
in view of our relative numbers and the decided advantage the white race

have over us in point of culture and civilization. What I asked and all I
asked for the colored man in this Republic, during my stay in Louisville,
was simple fair-play, and equal chance in the race of life. Cannot the white
race afford to grant this? Is there any danger that the black race, if given
equal freedom, will outrun the white race and usurp control?

To suppose such a result possible is a higher compliment to the natural
endowments of my race than I ever allowed myself to pay them.

Notwithstanding the ungentlemanly notice the has been
pleased to take of my visit, I look back to it with sincere pleasure. I shall
not soon forget that many of the best citizens of Kentucky dared to treat
me with respect and to call upon me, notwithstanding I was the guest of
an humble citizen of my own race. The time is coming when character
and attainments, not color and race, will determine the place a man shall
hold in the esteem of his fellow-men.

Very truly yours,

FREDERICK DOUG LASS.

PLSr: , 15 May 1873.