How did Julia Griffiths help Frederick Douglass?

 

Despite being a backer of one of the most famous men in the 19th Century at a time when he rose to prominence in the US, and despite their relationship being the talk of the town for many reasons, little is known about Julia Griffiths from Newcastle[1]. Little of her life before meeting Douglass is known; her education, her journey to being an abolitionist and her reasons for joining Doulgass are not known.  

 

Sophie Williams in her book Anti Racist Ally: An introduction to action and activism says an ally is this;

 

Allyship is what you do, not what you believe.

 

Allyship is speaking up, standing up, it’s joining the fight and struggle to achieve equality for all.

 

Allyship leads from behind. It’s not making it all about you or looking for praise or credit for your work, especially from marginalised people.[2]

 

Here we will look at some of the actions of Griffiths and pose this question - Is she a good example of an ally? In doing so, we offer the question, but not the answer. We open the discussion but offer no conclusion here. Griffiths also is interesting as her story allows us insight into the sexual politics of the times and shows a split within the American abolitionist movement. For this, we will use snippets of her life as told through David Blight’s book Frederick Douglass Profit of Freedom. 

 

In 1846 while in London Frederick Douglass met Julia Griffiths from Newcastle. She was seven years his senior, unmarried, and her father was a printer and publisher.[3] They became friends and correspondents.

 

When back in America Douglass told her he wanted to be a voice for Black people. She sent him ‘books, pamphlets, tracts and pictures’ to help him into journalism.[4]

 

Douglass, with funds from Britain (the owners of Carrs biscuits based in Carlisle provided funds for the venture), set up the North Star newspaper from Rochester, New England, taking its name from the same place as our project.

 

Douglass put all his money into the newspaper, which celebrated its first issue in December 1847. In the first edition Douglass spoke of the need for African Americans to be in charge of their fight back. ‘The man who has suffered the wrong is the man to demand redress,—that the man STRUCK is the man to CRY OUT—and that he who has endured the cruel pangs of Slavery is the man to advocate Liberty.[5]

 

Douglass struggled with the paper. He wrote to Griffiths of his worries about the finances of the paper. Griffiths visited in 1849 and then decided to move to America in May of that year to help Douglass. This must have been a huge step. We must remember the social restrictions of the time. The thought of an unmarried woman going across the Atlantic to help Douglass run a business was challenging expectations of stereotypical middle class female conduct at that time.[6] Griffiths travelled to America along with her sister Eliza and soon became a powerful force in keeping the newspaper afloat by increasing its circulation, editing and securing its finances.

 

Griffiths and her sister experienced violent racism first hand. While both were walking with Douglass in Battery Park, New York all three were attacked by a racist group.[7] This shows, as Blight describes, having a ‘pure commitment to helping Douglass go out and be Douglass.’[8]

 

When she first went to America, she boarded with Douglass and his family. This raised eyebrows in Rochester and there was criticism of both Douglass and Griffiths.[9]

 

In 1849 Griffiths published Autographs for Freedom, a collection of writings from famous abolitionists including William H. Seward (who would later serve as Lincoln’s Secretary of State). Other than a short preference, written on behalf of the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society, Griffiths uses her book to let others speak rather than herself. This book even allowed Douglass his move into fiction writing.[10]

 

Griffiths returned to England in 1855 and married, becoming Julia Croft. She left Douglass and his business interests in a much better place than how she found them. Douglass and Croft remained friends.

 

Her story is amazing, largely untold and in parts forgotten to history. And maybe, with all her skill as an editor, that she never published her own story is strange. Or maybe she believed the cause she worked for was more important and her actions spoke louder for the cause than her words could.

 

From Sophie Williams:

 

As an ally your job is to make change . . .

Even when it is difficult

Especially when it is difficult

It’s still easier than facing racism and discrimination on daily basis[11]

 

[1] Additional information: Notes on contributors Janet Douglas-Janet Douglas was formerly a Principal Lecturer in Politics (no date) A cherished friendship: Julia Griffiths crofts and Frederick Douglass, Taylor & Francis. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0144039X.2012.669903 (Accessed: April 23, 2023). This work notes Griffiths’ footprints in various archives and notes that many scholars put her birthplace as Newcastle. There is a solid claim for it being in London, she herself puts it in Scotland in a census return - although this may just indicate that she was in Scotland on census night, not necessarily residing there.)

[2] Williams, S. (2021) Anti racist ally: An introduction to action & activism. New York, NY: Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers. P 29

[3] Blight, D.W. (2020) Frederick Douglass: Prophet of freedom. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. P170 and P190

[4] Blight P 190.

[5] The North Star December 3rd 1847 as read in - About this collection  :  Frederick Douglass Newspapers, 1847-1874  :  digital collections  :  library of Congress (no date) The Library of Congress. Available at: https://www.loc.gov/collections/frederick-douglass-newspapers/about-this-collection/ (Accessed: 04 October 2023).

[6] Blight P195

[7] Blight 204

[8] Blight p206.

[9] (No date) Timeline of Frederick Douglass and family. Available at: http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny-douglass-family.html (Accessed: 18 September 2023).

[10] Griffiths. J (1849) Autographs for Freedom (Volume 1) as published by Lector House 2020

[11] Williams, S. (2021) Anti racist ally: An introduction to action & activism. New York, NY: Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers. P 29