By Karen Brundidge and Kelly Johnson
“Well the nation may forget, it may shut its eyes to the past, and frown upon any who may do otherwise, but the colored people of this country are bound to keep the past in lively memory till justice shall be done them.”-Frederick Douglass, 1888 (Blight 1161)
The Background of Frederick Douglass:
- Born a slave in Talbot County, Maryland on February of 1818 his birth name was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey
- He had a Black mother and a White father, whom he never knew
- Sept 3, 1825 His mother dies, lives with grandmother, Betty Bailey until later separated same year
- 1827 Sophia Auld, new master's wife, teaches Frederick the alphabet as well as math
- 1831 He buys his first book, The Columbian Orator
- 1834-Tries to runaway several times, transferred to various plantations, and fought notorious slave breaker
- In 1836-1838 meets Anna Murray, Free Black Daughter of slaves in Balitmore, at Debating society.
- On September 3, 1838 he ran away to freedom and eventually married Anna Murray in New York City.
- Sept 17, 1838 Moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts
- Changed his name to Douglass (based on the poem, Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott).
- 1839 Hears William Lloyd Garrison for the first time and learns of the abolitionist movement.
The rest is history...
The Acquisition of Cedar Hill:
- The house was built by John Van Hook, an architect between 1855 and 1859. It had from 6 to 14 rooms.
- In 1854 Van Hook with John Fox and John Dobler formed the Union Land Association.
- They bought land (100 acres) that would eventually become Anacostia. Their offices were in Van Hook's home.
- On September 1, 1877 (or 1878), Douglass bought Cedar Hill for $6,700 and 9 and 3/4 acres of the land and would eventually expand the land to 15 acres with 21 rooms.
- After the death of Anna, his wife, Douglass married Helen Pitts Douglass in January 1884
- He lived with Helen Pitts Douglass until he died at Cedar HIll on February 20,1895.
- In 1900, Helen Pitts Douglass' work, Congress finally created the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association (FDMHA).
- After 80 years of on again off again restoration, on September 1980, the visitor center was nearly ready for its opening in February of 1982.
- 1988 established as a National Historic Site.
- Another renovation most recently finished on February 14, 2007.
Problematizing The National Historic Site at Cedar Hill:asfasdfasdf
Despite the fact that Frederick Douglass is a nationally recognized icon, and a source of inspiration for many people, the intention for our project was to critically analyze Frederick Douglass' House at Cedar Hill and to look for messages that are often overlooked. This is neither a validation or an condemnation of the historic site, just merely an alternate view of unnoticed. We will break this section down into several areas and give our observations and intended messages regarding the site...
Movie:
Fighter for Freedom: The Frederick Douglass Story by the NPS
Location:
the location of the site is hard to get to and laden with bad reputations. Located in Anacostia D.C not many of your fellow travelers go there and to be honest, it’s not that easy to reach. One must, if using public transportation, get off at the stop in Anacostia then walk a ways, going past corner stores and local residents who have convened around the little mom and pop businesses there. After that, one must walk up a major incline, which is why Cedar Hill has one of the best views of DC, but a certain level of fitness is required. And once you get there walk up the 85 steps to the house. Not for the faint of heart.
Visitor Center :
The site’s visitor center was unappealing. It resembles a cave like dwelling to put it best. With the largest area being the gift shop, which contained books about Frederick Douglass, the Park Service and slavery. It is built into the hill and covered over with vegetation. While I do understand that it is not supposed to detract from the actual house, which is the center piece, it is quire lacking and depressing in its execution.
One of the reasons this site came into fruition was because at the time the United States was going through a bit of a culture clash, on top of that the African American minority were becoming increasingly serious and more militant regarding their status as second class citizens, no longer as keen to rely on the system to help them ‘work it out’. In the hearings for the 1969 bill with Congressman Taylor, a(NC), the language within the report emphasized how important it was to show a black individual, Douglass, who “worked ‘through the system’ not around it to achieve his objective”. Somewhat forgetting that Douglass fought his slave breaker and ran away. He was very proactive in trying to acquire his freedom, he didn’t’ wait on the system actually he made a lot of it happen on his own and of course as a result of his wife, Anna.
They also wanted to send a good message to the residents of Anacostia and give them an icon to look up to and counter current issues amongst the black community, teen pregnancy, violence and school dropouts. As this is a good idea it’s interesting that rich communities don’t seem to need reminders on appropriate ways to act, just poorer black ones.
Tour Information:
Efforts were made to emphasize Frederick Douglass’ softer side. The fact that he gave “horsey back rides” to his grandchildren and how much of an admiration he acquired for renaissance art and music. The tour guide highlighted the violin, and the Roman and Grecian busts on his mantelpiece, the amount of irons he had directing attention to his wardrobe and how well groomed and maintained he was, who sat in which chair and how people he entered here over the years. The visitor might not even know that this man was a slave, and the utter brutalities he endured and how he fought his slave masters. When discussing Douglass’ wives, ne never mentioned the several extra-marital affairs he had or how Anna Murray Douglass, his first wife of 44 years who sold her personal property to finance his escape from the south.
Frederick Douglass Research Paper
Tour:
The tours were relatively unstructured and varied time wise. On the occasions my project partner and I were there we observed that one tour lasted only 20 minutes, another 35, and another 50 minutes. There didn’t seem to be any general consensus among the guides and the data. The biggest concern this led to was making sure that the better of the guides was available on the day you were going there, which throws another hitch in the visit. The topics the rangers expanded were largely subjective and relied on their tour group. There is no guarantee that people leaving there will walk away with the same information and certainly none of they don’t ask. How would children in Anacostia know what to ask about? Also the two park rangers stated that tours are usually focused almost entirely on the architecture, furniture and restoration process
Frederick Douglass Research Paper
