Frederick Douglass may not have been the first African American to visit Ireland, but he was perhaps the most renowned. Carrying a letter of introduction written by his mentor, William Lloyd Garrison, this former slave sailed from Boston in 1845 to embark on a public speaking tour of the British Isles organized by abolitionists; in Ireland alone he delivered over fifty lectures detailing the horrors of slavery. Professor Mulligan will examine the transformation in Douglass’s thinking that took place during this period, paying particular attention to the influence of the Irish context on Douglass as he strategically mobilized his own diasporic predicament, so as to articulate a unique narrative of American nationalism.
