The Agitators: Episode 5

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Infinite Light: 1883 and 1888

Frederick Douglass dreamed of a day “where even the constancy of hate breaks down and where the clouds of pride, passion, and selfishness vanish before the brightness of infinite light.” In this episode, as Frederick’s hopes are sidetracked by personal loss, Susan attempts to help him find his way back.

Host: Ashley C. Ford

• The Agitators Episode 5. Infinite Light: 1883 and 1888

  
  

  Frederick Douglass dreamed of a day “where even the constancy of hate breaks down and where the clouds of pride, passion, and selfishness vanish before the brightness of infinite light.” In this episode, as Frederick’s hopes are sidetracked by personal loss, Susan attempts to help him find his way back.

  Credit / Author:

  WSCC, PRX, NPS

  Date created:

  12/09/2020

  Audio Transcript

  Episode 5: Infinite Light 1883 and 1888

  ASHLEY C. FORD The Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, the National Park Service, and PRX present The Agitators, a play by Mat Smart.

  [Audio logo]

  There are only a handful of letters remaining today between Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. One of the main reasons for this – as we learned in the last episode, is that Frederick Douglass’ house was burned down in 1872. Undoubtedly treasure troves of letters and writings of Douglass’ were lost – including all of his copies of The North Star – his newspaper.

  In contrast to that, late in Susan B. Anthony’s life, her colleague and biographer, Ida Husted Harper, urged Susan to burn many of her letters and papers. Susan initially protested. It was vital to Susan to preserve the history of the women’s suffrage movement. And while most of the important documents were saved, eventually Susan acquiesced to Miss Harper’s demand. Every morning, for weeks, Susan’s sister Mary burned Susan’s personal papers in a bonfire in their backyard. While this might sound jarring to us now, it’s the equivalent of not wanting people to have your gmail password after you die.

  But what a stark example of privilege this is: many of Frederick’s papers were destroyed by arson many of Susan’s were destroyed by choice.

  . . . We begin today’s episode in 1883. More than 10 years after we last left Frederick and Susan.

  I’m Ashley C. Ford. This is The Agitators.

  Episode Five: Infinite Light. 1883 and 1888.

  The Douglass House Cedar Hill Washington, D.C. January 21, 1883

  [It is ten-and-a-half years later. FREDERICK, now 64 years old, kneels on the living room floor, shivering. SUSAN, now 62, knocks on the front door, which has been left ajar. She wears a winter coat and hat. She carries her alligator purse]

  SUSAN Frederick! [The sound of knocking on the door] Frederick, the door is wide open. Are you there? [More knocking] I am coming in! It is Susan and I am coming in! Frederick, why did you leave the door open? It is freezing in here. Let me put on the fire.

  FREDERICK Fire is not welcome in this house.

  SUSAN You will catch pneumonia otherwise.

  FREDERICK I welcome the cold. Why are you here?

  SUSAN To see you.

  FREDERICK Why are you in D.C.?

  SUSAN For the National. Our convention begins tomorrow.

  FREDERICK I am in no condition to speak this year. If that is why you are here, I –

  SUSAN That is not why I am here.

  FREDERICK I cannot give any lectures!

  SUSAN I do not expect you to. Is anyone here?

  FREDERICK No. Charles visited the other day with Joseph. Have you met my grandson Joseph?

  SUSAN Yes, of course.

  FREDERICK Has he played violin for you?

  SUSAN No, not yet.

  FREDERICK He is twelve and already playing Mozart and Mendelssohn. He already plays better than his grandfather. But he is not yet better than his grandmother. He has the makings of a virtuoso. He loved it when Anna and I played on the porch together. Children came from all over the neighborhood to listen to our duets. [SUSAN puts more wood in the stove] The warmth is. . . Thank you. I lost track of time. On the porch. Time has been behaving so strangely since Anna died. How do you clean grease from a suitcoat?

  SUSAN . . . Cover the stain with talcum powder. Let it set for a half hour. Then, using a little bit of water, gently wash it out with your hands.

  FREDERICK Ah.

  SUSAN Before I forget. . . I brought something for you. Still warm from the press.

  FREDERICK Bravo. History of Woman Suffrage: Volume Two. Edited by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage. Why not list your names alphabetically? Why Elizabeth first?

  SUSAN Oh, we are all first. And many, many more women than the three of us. If we could list a thousand names, all first, we would.

  FREDERICK I look forward to reading it.

  SUSAN I did not send it earlier because I was waiting for the leather-bound edition. I could not give Frederick Douglass a cloth-bound copy – no.

  FREDERICK Thank you.

  SUSAN What did you think of the first volume? I do not believe we ever spoke about it.

  FREDERICK I. . . love the beginning. A very strong beginning. Which, of course, is so important.

  SUSAN You did not read it.

  FREDERICK I read the first chapter and it was very strong.

  SUSAN But not strong enough to keep reading?

  FREDERICK I will finish it. I promise. And I look forward to Volume Two. Let me get you a copy of my third autobiography.

  SUSAN I already have one.

  FREDERICK And?

  SUSAN . . . And I look forward to reading it.

  [FREDERICK laughs. SUSAN laughs. He steels himself and looks at the fire. They both watch the fire in silence. After some time, FREDERICK speaks]

  FREDERICK Once I saw infinite light. Have you ever? I saw the constancy of hate break down and the clouds of pride and selfishness vanish before a brightness of infinite light. When I was away on my lecturing tours, Anna would send fresh linens for me – ahead of my arrival. Those towels and sheets smelled of her. Of her hands. Her skin. I never had trouble falling asleep away from home because of her linens. What will I do without her?

  SUSAN Anna is still with you.

  FREDERICK She allowed me to focus entirely on agitation. She thought of every detail imaginable. Anna Murray-Douglass allowed me to be Frederick Douglass. But she gave too much. She gave everything. . . . She was a much better wife to me than I was a husband to her. I have been sleeping on the floor. It is the only way I can fall asleep now. Have you ever slept on the floor?

  SUSAN . . . No.

  FREDERICK I did not sleep in a bed until I was twenty years old – and now, without her, I. . . Try it. Lie down.

  SUSAN I am not going to lie on your floor.

  FREDERICK Well, I am. I must. [muttering] Oh, lord. Now to get these awful shoes off. [He takes off his shoes. It is not easy] Hm-hmph. There. Ah. Try it. Lie down.

  SUSAN . . . Oh, for heaven’s sake. Fine. [SUSAN lies down on the floor as well. She sneezes] When is the last time you swept this floor?

  FREDERICK I… plead the Fifth.

  SUSAN Oh, Frederick, you must sweep the floors.

  FREDERICK I know. I will. [FREDERICK laughs. SUSAN laughs. The fire crackles] Would you like a pillow? SUSAN No, thank you.

  FREDERICK I am going to use a pillow. . . . The floor and the History of Woman Suffrage: Volume Two under my head. What more could a modern man possibly need? [FREDERICK laughs. SUSAN laughs. FREDERICK begins to cry] How have you done it? All these years?

  SUSAN Done what?

  FREDERICK Been on your own.

  SUSAN I am not on my own. I have my sister in the house with me. I had my mother until three years ago. I am not on my own.

  FREDERICK How have you traversed through life without sharing your heart?

  SUSAN I share my heart every time I open my mouth. And besides, a woman is not incomplete without a husband. I am not a half. I am whole.

  FREDERICK I do not need Susan B. Anthony right now – I need Susan. I need the help of one of my dearest friends left alive. How am I going to survive this? How have you not shared your heart with a lover? How?

  SUSAN . . . I have.

  FREDERICK Who?

  SUSAN I am married to the Cause.

  FREDERICK But you cannot hear the Cause breathing next to you. The Cause cannot caress you and hold you and kiss your neck.

  SUSAN I wake up thinking of it. I spend every minute of every day devoted to it. I go to sleep – thinking of the problems we are facing – and I wake up with answers. Or possible answers. I am so embraced by it, and it by me, that now I dream of it. And when I think of these fine young women around me – so dedicated to amending the Constitution, I –

  FREDERICK But have you ever fallen in love?

  SUSAN . . . Yes.

  FREDERICK With who?

  [SUSAN does not answer. A long pause]

  SUSAN . . . When I cannot fall asleep, I breathe in through my nose and out from my mouth. Try it. In with your nose. [Still lying on the floor, they both breathe in through their noses] Out from your mouth. [They breathe out from their mouths] In. [They breathe in] Out.

  [They breathe out. They breathe in and out again]

  FREDERICK What am I going to do?

  [They breathe in. They breathe out]

  SUSAN . . . A rich man took up his residence next to a tanner. And the rich man found the smell of the tan yard so unpleasant that he told the tanner he must go. The tanner kept delaying his departure. The rich man spoke to him over and over. And every time the tanner said, “I am making the arrangements to move very soon.” This back and forth went on for some time, till at last the rich man got so used to the smell that he ceased to mind it, and he troubled the tanner with objections no more. . . . In. [They breathe in] Out.

  [They breathe out. From far away in the distance, the sound of a brass band playing a march. Perhaps it is Johann Strauss I’s “Radetzky March.” And now, suddenly, we are at …]

  The White House Washington, D.C. March 30, 1888

  (It is five years later. SUSAN, now 68, and FREDERICK, 70 years old, still lie on their backs on the floor – but now they are in the main corridor of the White House. FREDERICK points up at the ornate ceiling, trying to show SUSAN something. The Marine Band finishes the march with a flourish]

  FREDERICK There. You see the gold leaf there – where the new traceries are. Indeed – they spell “U.S.A.”

  SUSAN Where?

  FREDERICK U. S. A. You see?

  SUSAN No. Why am I even here? President Cleveland has done nothing to help the women’s cause.

  FREDERICK Enjoy it! It is an accomplishment to be invited to the White House.

  SUSAN It is not an accomplishment if it accomplishes nothing. I tried to speak to him of our continued disenfranchisement – Princess Viroqua tried to speak to him of her plans for an Indian college – but all he wanted to talk about was the new traceries on the ceiling in the main corridor. And I do not see the hidden letters. Why are your shoes off?

  FREDERICK Grover told us to make ourselves comfortable.

  SUSAN Frederick Douglass, put your shoes back on.

  FREDERICK Here. Try propping the History of Woman Suffrage: Volume Three under your head. [FREDERICK props the book under SUSAN’s head. He starts to put his shoes back on] I still cannot believe you brought me Volume Three today.

  SUSAN Once the International Council begins, I was afraid I would forget.

  FREDERICK It has proved quite useful to place hors d’oeuvres on.

  SUSAN How did you like Volumes One and Two?

  FREDERICK They. . .

  SUSAN Have excellent first chapters?

  FREDERICK Yes. Quite excellent.

  SUSAN Oh. I see a U. An S. An A. Rah rah sis boom bah. Enough of this lounging on the floor.

  [SUSAN, defying her age, springs to her feet]

  FREDERICK [incredulous] How are you still so nimble?

  SUSAN Here, let me help you up.

  FREDERICK [muttering, as he laboriously rises] You are like a gazelle, springing up from the floor. Not me. There.

  SUSAN The First Lady is scowling at us. I told you we should not lie down in the hallway.

  FREDERICK Oh, that is not why she is scowling at you.

  SUSAN I beg your pardon?

  FREDERICK In the receiving line, as you introduced your pioneers to the President, one after another, making him laugh and smile – you never once lifted your hand from his shoulder. I daresay, at times, you were caressing him. Mrs. Cleveland was green with envy.

  SUSAN You are imagining things.

  FREDERICK Everyone in the East Room noticed, Susan – even the reporter from The Washington Post. You must take care. Frances is our youngest First Lady ever and prone to jealousy.

  [SUSAN looks down the hall at the First Lady]

  SUSAN How old is she?

  FREDERICK Twenty-three.

  SUSAN And how old is he?

  FREDERICK Fifty-one.

  SUSAN Twenty-eight years her senior? It is reprehensi –

  FREDERICK Helen is only twenty years younger than me. Why would I take offense? . . . She thinks you do not like her.

  SUSAN I like Helen.

  FREDERICK You take no interest in her. You have barely spoken to her today.

  SUSAN Well, apparently, I have been too preoccupied flirting with the President.

  FREDERICK I was lost. She brought light back into my life.

  SUSAN I can see that.

  FREDERICK She thinks you do not approve of our marriage.

  SUSAN On what grounds?

  FREDERICK That she is twenty years younger than me. That she was my secretary. That she is white. Elizabeth publicly supported our marriage.

  SUSAN You want me to write a letter and publish it like Elizabeth did? My concern is votes for women and nothing else. I am not concerned with the age of your wife or the color of her skin. Now it is time for me to leave this pointless affair – and get back to work.

  FREDERICK Please stay.

  SUSAN Stay for what? This ceremony is the only thing this administration has ever done for the women’s cause. [yelling down the hall] And I could make a better butternut squash confit with my eyes closed! [to FREDERICK] You have been in Washington, D.C. too long, Frederick. You have become a politician – jockeying for useless, pointless posts. You live up high on Cedar Hill, in a house with twenty-one rooms. Where is the man who told me to agitate, agitate, agitate? And I know – you are seventy years old. I know you have already done so much good – I should leave you alone. But I will not. We need you. The Negroes being lynched in the South need you – and those being illegally disenfranchised at the polls. The women who still have no vote need you. The International Council convenes tomorrow night. We have 53 women’s associations here from 9 different countries. Come speak. Come share your thunder and lightning – if you have any left.

  [SUSAN exits. She leaves the White House. FREDERICK stands there, stunned. He turns to a mirror. He breathes in through his nose. And out through his mouth. As FREDERICK looks at his reflection, he considers what SUSAN has said. He considers what he has done in his life and what he has yet to do. The Marine Band begins to play “Hail to the Chief.”]

  ASHLEY C. FORD End of Episode Five. I’m Ashley C. Ford. This was The Agitators by Mat Smart, from the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, the National Park Service, and PRX Productions.

  The podcast adaptation was envisioned by Commission Executive Director Anna Laymon, with support from Kelsey Millay. Performances by Madeleine Lambert as Susan B. Anthony and Cedric Mays as Frederick Douglass. Directed by Logan Vaughn. Original music and score by Juliette Jones and Rootstock Republic. The production team includes Executive Producer Jocelyn Gonzales and Managing Producer Genevieve Sponsler. Post-production sound and mixing by Sandra Lopez-Monsalve and Ian Coss. Original music and score recorded, mixed, and mastered by Joshua Valleau. Vocals and heme song production by Hunter LaMar. Additional production by Brett ‘Whitenoise’ White. Additional music by Epidemic Sound. Special thanks to David Herman of Good Studio, Dan Dietrich of Wall-to-Wall Recording, and Erin Sparks and Jacob Mann at Edge Media Studios.

  I’m Ashley C. Ford. To learn more about the history of the suffrage and abolition movements, visit the show’s website at GO DOT N-P-S DOT GOV SLASH suffrage podcast.

Listener Companion from the National Park Service

Find out more about the people, places, and stories from Episode Five.

• 

  Frederick Douglass NHP

  Cedar Hill was the home of Frederick Douglass in Washington, DC.

• 

  President's Park (White House)

  The President of the United States lives in a national park.

• 

  Grover Cleveland Home, Princeton, NJ

  Learn about Grover Cleveland and his family during and after his presidency.

Credits

This was The Agitators by Mat Smart, from the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, the National Park Service, and PRX Productions.The podcast adaptation was envisioned by Commission Executive Director Anna Laymon, with support from Kelsey Millay.

Performances by Madeleine Lambert as Susan B. Anthony and Cedric Mays as Frederick Douglass.

Directed by Logan Vaughn. Original music and score by Juliette Jones and Rootstock Republic. The production team includes Executive Producer Jocelyn Gonzales and Managing Producer Genevieve Sponsler. Post-production sound and mixing by Sandra Lopez-Monsalve and Ian Coss.

Original music and score recorded, mixed, and mastered by Joshua Valleau. Theme song production by Hunter LaMar. Original music and score recorded, mixed, and mastered by Joshua Valleau. Vocals and Theme song production by Hunter LaMar. Additional production by Brett ‘Whitenoise’ White. Overture sound design by David Lamont Wilson. Additional music by Epidemic Sound. Special thanks to David Herman of Good Studio, Dan Dietrich of Wall-to-Wall Recording, and Erin Sparks and Jacob Mann at Edge Media Studios.