Fredrick Douglass and Ottilie Assing Journal/ Love Across Color Lines

Tanya Barragan
Scott Lankford
English 48A

Fredrick Douglass & Ottilie Assing

10/21/11

AUTHOR’ QUOTE

“Are we talking about a love story, or are we imposing twentieth-century, post-Freudian expectations on a friendship between a German- American woman and an African-American man that was just that, a friendship.” (xx)

INTERNET QUOTE

“This version of the couple's relationship is more compelling than past versions. Primarily because other assumed accounts were soley based on Assings letters to her sister, Ludmilla, with whome her relationship was strained or on associates of the couple, such as Helen von Racowitza./Deidrich's research took her to archives and libraries all over Europe and the United States. The author expresses clearly that this is not another Douglass biography but her assessment of the couple's relationship with a closer focus on Ottilie Assing.”

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/african_american_literature_ret/27962

SUMMARY

Love across Color Lines, by Maria Diedrich,  was about Fredrick Douglass, an African American man and Ottilie Assing, a half German and American and. It is about weather or not these two had a love affair or weather or not they were just friends. Assing, who came across Douglass’s work, met him and was intrigued by this man. They became long time friends with many visits to each other’s home, attending events with one and another, and be a huge part of each other’s life. With these two very close there is proof of their friendship but not enough proof that it was in fact they had a love affair; though many knew about their relationship and there were letters to friends and family; however many of the letter were lost. They story comes across as what we would think and see what was behind these two relationship.

YOUR IDEAS/REACTIONS/RESPONSES TO THE AUTHOR’S IDEAS

My ideas to the story seem to jump from one idea to the next. I seemed to believe that Douglass and Assing in fact did have an love affair, because of the fact that after Douglass got remarried; Assing committed suicide because she was hoping Douglass would marry her and left her estate to Douglass. But then I thought why would Douglass marry someone else, if he did have a relationship with Assing. I got to thinking that maybe he wanted to marry her but he couldn't’t because of the times and circumstances of their races, and may not have been the right thing to do. My reactions to the story was I was very interested in the truth and what really happened between these two. It’s one of those story’s that you have information but not all the facts, so you are left with a thought of what really happened. I think that the Author did a great job at trying to find out the truth with what Douglass and Assing had going on, as she proved that they did have some kind of relationship; whatever it may have been. But she also proves the fact that people knew about them and they did not hide what they had going on. It was interesting to learn that these two may have fallen in love but could not share their love because the times that they were in, and would not allow them to be together. That is just a thought that I got from the Author.