On September 29, 1845 Frederick Douglass and Daniel O'Connell Meet in Dublin, Ireland at Repeal Rally

On September 29, 1845, fugitive slave Frederick Douglass + Irish liberator Daniel O’Connell met in Dublin, when Douglass was on a 4-month speaking tour of Ireland. Both men were duly impressed by one another, and though it was the only time they met, they formed an alliance based on their utter advocacy for freedom and liberty.

In a letter Douglas wrote from Dublin to William Lloyd Garrison on September 29, 1845 Douglass reported, "I have but just returned from a great Repeal meeting now at Conciliation Hall. It was a very large meeting, much larger than usual, I was told, on account of the presence of Mr O'Connell, who has just returned from his residence in Derryname, where he had been spending the summer, recruiting for an energetic agitation of repeal during the present autumn.

"At the close of this business, Mr O'Connell rose and delivered a speech about an hour and a quarter long. It was a great speech, skillfully delivered, powerful in its logic, majestic in its rhetoric, biting it in its sarcasm, melting in its pathos, and burning in his rebuke. Upon the subject of slavery in general, and American slavery in particular, O'Connor grew warm and energetic, defending his course on this subject. He said with an earnestness which I should never forget:

"I've been assailed for attacking the American institution, as it is called, Negro slavery. I am not ashamed of that attack," O'Connell said. "I did not shrink from it. I'm the advocate of civil and religious liberty, all over the globe, and wherever tyranny exists, I am the foe of the tyrant, wherever oppression shows itself, I am the foe of the oppressor; whenever slavery rears its head, I am the enemy of the system, or the institution, call it by whatever name you will. I am the friend of liberty in every creed, class and color. My sympathy with distress is not confined within the narrow bonds of my own green island. No, it extends itself to every corner of the earth. My heart walks abroad, and whenever the miserable or to be succored, or the slave to be set free, my spirit is at home, and I delight to dwell."

Douglass spent about four months in Ireland, speaking on slavery as well as temperance, and selling copies of his book to appreciative audiences. After Dublin, he visited Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Belfast.

See a recent discussion of the September 29, 1845 meeting by Professor Christine Kinealy, author of the book, Frederick Douglass and Ireland: In His Own Words.

Read more about Irish and Blacks in Boston.

Research + Text, Michael Quinlin

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