Social reformer, statesman, powerful orator, and writer, Frederick Douglass was born enslaved in Talbot County, Maryland, and became a leader in the abolitionist movement and the women’s rights movement. From 1889 to 1891, he was Consul-General to the Republic of Haiti.
His three memoirs include A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), and the Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881, revised 1892).
Douglass moved to DC in 1872, and purchased Cedar Hill in 1877. He worked as an editor for the abolitionist newspaper New National Era, and served as a U.S. Marshall and the DC Recorder of Deeds. He is remembered locally by a bridge across the Anacostia River named in his honor. A statue of Douglass represents the District of Columbia in National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
The Homes
1411 W St. SE, Washington, DC (Cedar Hill)
Cedar Hill was originally a smaller house (probably 14 rooms), but Douglass made a series of additions (adding to the back, and converting the attic to another story) to convert it to a 21-room mansion. The property was managed by the National Park Service beginning in 1962, and opened as a museum in 1982. Now the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.
316 A St. NE, Washington, DC
Frederick Douglass
1411 W St. SE, Washington DC
Located in Anacostia neighborhood, Southeast
Frederick Douglass
320 A St. NE, Washington DC
Located in Capitol Hill neighborhood, Northeast