Becoming Frederick Douglass

The Fugitive Slave Law

Clip: Episode 1 | 3m 7s  | Video has closed captioning.

The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law empowers the government — and everyday “slave catchers” — to recapture any previously enslaved people and return them to their former enslavers. Becoming Frederick Douglass is produced and directed by Stanley Nelson and Nicole London and features Wendell Pierce as the voice of Douglass.