Love Across Color Lines

Love Across Color Lines
by Maria Diedrich
Adopted by
Tim & Patricia Schantz
in honor of Adam, Susannah and Bobby Schantz
on April 24, 2022
Love Across Color Lines

Love across color lines : Ottilie Assing and Frederick Douglass

By Maria Diedrich. New York: Hill and Wang, 1999.

This book is a tragic love story. One of Frederick Douglass’ friends from Germany, feminist Ottilie Assing (1819-1884), traveled to the United States, interviewed him, and translated his autobiography into German. Assing was a journalist by profession. They were about the same age. She fell in love with him, but he said he was wary of the racial divide in the United States. After the death of her sister, Assing returned to Europe to settle the family estate. During this trip, she learned through the newspaper that Frederick Douglass had married another woman seven months prior. Already diagnosed with breast cancer, Assing committed suicide by cyanide in Paris. In her will, she said to burn her letters to Douglass. However, 28 letters from Douglass to Assing survived, as well as 91 letters she wrote to her sister. These correspondences form the basis of this book.

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Adoption Type: Build and Access the Collection