Pauline Nevins

I know I’m not the only one who’s stunned when they see someone familiar out of their usual habitat.

My first memory of this was at age 13, seeing my cooking teacher in R. Rowlatt and Sons, Ironmongery and Hardware Merchants, a shop in my hometown on Silver Street. I stood and stared. She was shopping like an ordinary person. I had never seen her outside of the classroom, where she directed us girls to wash our hands and scrub our nails before we touched a rolling pin.


She knew who I was – mostly because I was one of only four dark-skinned kids in the entire school. But also, because I was the girl whose attempt at bread making she held up as an example of how not to. My dough, instead of rising to a soft mound like those of all the other girls, was as hard as a rock chiseled from Hadrian’s Wall. I had killed the yeast. To this day, I am intimidated by any recipe that has yeast as an ingredient.

My most recent imitation of a deer in the headlights was on a nippy summer morning in Waterford, Ireland, during a European vacation. My husband, Jim, and I were on our way to the famous Waterford Crystal showroom. A short distance from our destination, I casually glanced up at a sign on the outside of City Hall. Had the plaque not been bright blue with white lettering, I might have missed it. I paused and read these words: FREDERICK DOUGLASS AMERICAN ABOLITIONIST SOCIAL REFORMER AND STATESMAN SPOKE IN CITY HALL 9TH OCT-1845.

Oh, my goodness. What was Frederick Douglass, an enslaved Black American, doing in Ireland in 1845?

I knew a little about Frederick Douglass – that he was enslaved at birth and became a famous orator. But I was ashamed I didn’t know more and remedied that when I returned to the United States.

I purchased a copy of Douglass, his three autobiographies compiled into one volume. I also searched the internet for information about the plaque. I read in the Irish Times that a Timothy J. Madigan, director of Irish Studies at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY, was in attendance in Waterford when dignitaries unveiled the plaque in 2013.

I shot off an email to Professor Madigan, and was delighted when he responded the very next day. He began his email with, “Hi Pauline – great to hear from you!”

He said my timing was perfect. He’d recently given a talk about Frederick Douglass’ experiences in Ireland, and the various memorials to him, which included the commemorative plaque Jim and I saw in Waterford. I learned Rochester and Waterford have been sister cities since 1983 and celebrated their 30-year anniversary with the unveiling of the Douglass plaque.

From the various resource links provided by Professor Madigan, I read that Frederick Douglass lived for 25 years in Rochester and is buried in the city’s Mount Hope Cemetery. The publication in Rochester of one of his autobiographies put him in danger of being captured and returned to slavery. Abolitionists’ friends convinced him to travel to Great Britain for his own protection. He stayed there for almost two years, giving several hundred lectures – one was in Waterford City Hall.

Several articles highlighted Douglass’ time in Ireland, and the profound effect it had on him. Often quoted is this excerpt from a letter Douglass wrote to his friend and mentor, William Lloyd Garrison, the famous white abolitionist:

“I am covered with the soft, grey fog of the Emerald Isle. I breathe, and Lo! the chattel becomes a man. I gaze around in vain for one who will question my equal humanity, claim me as his slave, or offer me an insult. I employ a cab – I am seated beside white people – I reach the hotel – I enter the same door … I dine at the same table – and no one is offended. No delicate nose grows deformed in my presence … I meet nothing to remind me of my complexion. I find myself regarded and treated at every turn with the kindness and deference paid to white people.”

British benefactors purchased Douglass’ freedom from his Maryland enslaver, ensuring his safety when he returned to the United States. The price: 150 pounds sterling.

In Waterford, my husband and I continued our walk to the crystal factory. There, displayed among commemorative pieces, was an exquisite crystal bowl. It was a replica of a gift presented to a president of the United States by then-Prime Minister Enda Kenny TD, on behalf of the people of Ireland. The recipient was the son of a Black man – President Barack Obama.