Frederick Douglass Birthday Celebration!

This Douglass portrait  and signature card was probably part of a photography album or assembled by a collector, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution. 

The National Park Service will celebrate the 197th birthday of Frederick Douglass on February 13th and 14th, 2015, with special programs and activities at the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site. This year, the Anacostia Community Museum will serve as one of several partnering locations for the celebration by hosting a special behind-the-scenes tour with a focus on archival materials related to Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass wrote his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845. Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

In Lessons of the Hour, 1894  one of Douglass's last major speeches, he addressed the issue of mob lynching of Blacks in the American South.  Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

The tour will provide a glimpse into Douglass’s life through his autobiographies and newspapers, photographs, and speeches. It will also highlight the efforts of a 1950s civic association, The Coordinating Committee of Anacostia and Vicinity, to preserve Douglass’s home.  In a  1953 letter written to the Frederick Douglass Memorial & Historical Ass., Charles E. Qualls voiced the concerns of the committee:

We believe that the Frederick Douglas [sic] Home and grounds can be  maintained in proper and fitting state for this great man.  All the people want to know is how they can help and that moneys raised and donated will be judiciously spent and wisely taken care of; that the home and grounds and proper protection of relics and cataloguing of books be accomplished.

The Coordinating Committee of Anacostia and Vicinity celebrated the success of their letter writing campaign for the upkeep of the Douglass home with a invitation only Soiree. Dale/Patterson Family papers, 1886 - 1990, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Dianne Dale.

The Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association was established by Douglass's second wife, Helen Pitts after he died to preserve his legacy and mange his possessions.  The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs began assisting with the upkeep of his home in 1916.  In September 1962 the home became a unit of the National Park Service and opened to the public on February 14, 1972.  Dale/Patterson Family papers, 1886 - 1990, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Dianne Dale.

This special tour will take place Friday the 13th from 1:30 – 2:30 at the Anacostia Community Museum.  It will be a great opportunity for the public to come out and view some of our treasures and celebrate the birthday of this great American.

Jennifer Morris
Archivist
Anacostia Community Museum Archives