Anna Murray Douglass and a Family of Revolutionaries: A Conversation Reclaiming the Woman at the Center of the Struggle

Anna Murray Douglass was a freedom-fighter, strategist and revolutionary whose contributions have too often been overshadowed by those of her husband, Frederick Douglass. Join author Celeste-Marie Bernier with director, writer, producer and Duke alumnus Charles Randolph-Wright (“American Prophet: Frederick Douglass in His Own Words”), and Douglass family member Kenneth B. Morris, Jr., for a conversation about “Anna Murray Douglass: Biography of a Revolutionary,” (Duke University Press, 2026) the first standalone biography devoted to her life and work.

Drawing on more than thirty years of archival research and collaboration with family descendants, Bernier reveals Anna Murray Douglass’s leadership in the struggle against slavery, racism and white supremacy – from helping secure Frederick Douglass’s self-liberation to making the family’s homes centers of Underground Railroad activity. The book challenges familiar accounts of individual heroism to illuminate a family’s multigenerational commitment to freedom.