Isaac Julien: Lessons Of The Hour, Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (1818鈥�1895), a leading abolitionist, delivered thousands of lectures calling for an end to slavery and wrote extensively about portrait photography as a tool in the fight for freedom. He understood its power to capture the essential humanity of each subject and to be an engine of social change. Lessons of the Hour features passages from Douglass鈥� key speeches, including the titular 鈥淟essons of the Hour,鈥� 鈥淲hat to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?鈥� and 鈥淟ecture on Pictures".
Julien weaves together reenacted scenes from Douglass鈥� life and lectures, filming at his historic home in Washington, DC, and a restaged studio of famed Black photographer J.P. Ball (1825鈥�1904) as he makes a portrait of Douglass. Images of contemporary Baltimore鈥攖he city where Douglass was enslaved and escaped from bondage in 1838鈥攊ncluding footage of fireworks and protests in 2015 following the death of Freddie Gray, Jr. while in police custody, are interspersed as the struggle to make good on America鈥檚 promise of equality continues.
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Frederick Douglass (1818鈥�1895), a leading abolitionist, delivered thousands of lectures calling for an end to slavery and wrote extensively about portrait photography as a tool in the fight for freedom. He understood its power to capture the essential humanity of each subject and to be an engine of social change. Lessons of the Hour features passages from Douglass鈥� key speeches, including the titular 鈥淟essons of the Hour,鈥� 鈥淲hat to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?鈥� and 鈥淟ecture on Pictures".
Julien weaves together reenacted scenes from Douglass鈥� life and lectures, filming at his historic home in Washington, DC, and a restaged studio of famed Black photographer J.P. Ball (1825鈥�1904) as he makes a portrait of Douglass. Images of contemporary Baltimore鈥攖he city where Douglass was enslaved and escaped from bondage in 1838鈥攊ncluding footage of fireworks and protests in 2015 following the death of Freddie Gray, Jr. while in police custody, are interspersed as the struggle to make good on America鈥檚 promise of equality continues.
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