Talking History reflects on the life and times of African-American abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass, who visited Ireland in 1845. Dr Patrick Geoghegan meets Professor Christine Kinealy, Director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute, and author of ‘Frederick Douglass in Ireland: In his own words’; Dr David Blight, Sterling Professor of History, of African American Studies, and of American Studies; Dr Laurence Fenton, Author of 'Frederick Douglass in Ireland, The Black O’Connell', and Professor Robert S Levine, Biographer, Distinguished University Professor in English at the University of Maryland. In this episode, they examine the orator's early life and the impact of slavery, all the way to his relationship with President Abraham Lincoln.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.