Friday, Feb 15, 2008
The National Park Service (NPS) and National Capital Parks-East, along with Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Lyle Laverty, hosted and participated in a public ceremony celebrating the 190th birthday of abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass, on Thursday, February 14, at the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington.
Human rights advocate and radio personality Joe Madison was the keynote speaker who joined the All Souls Jubilee Choir and the Franklin P. Nash United Methodist Choir, who provided musical selections in honoring Douglass, considered the “father of the Civil Rights Movement.” Winners from the 2007 Frederick Douglass Annual Oratorical contest were acknowledged at the program that was free and open to the public and is one of many events held in the National Capital Region to commemorate Black History Month.
Frederick Douglass, a self-educated and world-renowned author and statesman, was born into slavery on a plantation in Tuckahoe, MD in 1818. At an early age, Douglass realized his ability to read would be the key to his freedom. As a young man in Baltimore, MD, he studied African-American preachers and taught in the Sabbath School where he refined his reading, writing and public speaking skills. At age 20, he escaped northward to freedom. Douglass went on to travel extensively throughout the United States and Europe, speaking out against slavery and other injustices to humanity. There he developed a large following of supporters. Frederick Douglass is remembered as a great abolitionist, civil rights activist and supporter of the woman’s suffrage movement of the 19th century.
Douglass moved to the Nation’s Capital from Rochester, NY in 1872. He first lived on Capitol Hill and in1877, he purchased “Cedar Hill,” the location of the Frederick Douglass National Historical Site. Douglass’ spacious estate, sitting on top of a hill, afforded him one of the most dramatic views of Washington, D.C. Douglass’
home contains most of his original furnishings. Each room is filled with items from his public life as a politician. Some items include treasured books and gifts from such well-known figures as anti-slavery writer Harriet Beecher Stowe and President Abraham Lincoln. Douglass lived at “Cedar Hill” until his death in 1895.
For more information about the Frederick Douglass site or other programs held at the site, please visit www.nps.gov/frdo.
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