16 Apr 2012

Lost Capitol Hill: Frederick Douglass

On April 14, 1876, the Emancipation statue in Lincoln Park was unveiled. Thousands of people, including the President, attended. The person chosen to give the main oration that day was Frederick Douglass. Given the amount of work he had done for the cause of emancipation since escaping from slavery in 1838, he was an obvious choice. He was also a local, having lived on Capitol Hill at 316 A Street, NE since 1872.

(Today’s column is a repeat, as it’s exactly the same one I wanted to write for Emancipation Day – and found I’d already written)

The first half of the 1870s had been tough on Douglass. It had begun with great hopes for him, as he had restarted the National Era newspaper (now the New National Era) Unfortunately, in 1872 his house in Rochester burned down. Moving to DC, onto Capitol Hill, made sense both in terms of running his newspaper and for his work supporting President Grant’s reelection. Douglass had hoped to be named to a government post after Grant’s victory, but had not been offered any job. Instead, in 1874 he was named the head of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Bank. Due to improper loans made previous to his term, the bank went broke – and he with it. He was forced to close down the New National Era as well. In spite of these setbacks, Douglass was asked to deliver the keynote speech at the unveiling of the Emancipation Statue that was being placed in Lincoln Square, a mile east of the Capitol. For Douglass, this was a moment to send his message around the country, knowing that it would be reprinted far and wide.

On April 14, 1876, the 11th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination, Douglass stood before a huge crowd which included President Grant, his cabinet, members of the Supreme Court, a large number of congressmen and many people from all over DC. The one person who should have been there as well was Henry Wilson, who as Senator from Massachusetts had introduced the DC Emancipation Act and shepherded it through the Senate. He had been President Grant’s Vice President in his second term, but had died half a year earlier.

Frederick Douglass House, 316 A Street NE (RSP)

Douglass said very little about the statue itself, confining himself to calling it “highly interesting” as well as adding an ad libbed remark that “he did not like the attitude; it showed the Negro on his knees, when a mere manly attitude would have been more indicative of freedom“ (this was not included in the printed speech, and the quote is from James W. Cromwell, a Howard University historian who was at the speech.) Douglass went on with his address, in which he gave a measured account of Abraham Lincoln, including the famous phrase that he was “primarily the white man’s president.”

His address was received with a standing ovation and general approbation; the story is told that Mary Lincoln gave Douglass the President’s cane (which can be seen at Douglass’s Cedar Hill home) on account of the speech – though this is certainly false, as he had received it just after the President’s assassination.
Just under a year later, Douglass was named United States Marshal of the district, which would give him the financial wherewithal to purchase Cedar Hill, the estate in Anacostia where he would remain for the rest of his life. With that, Douglass’s time on Capitol Hill was over.

Happy Emancipation Day, everyone, here’s hoping you’ll be able to spend it enjoying the city and your neighborhood today.


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2 responses to “Lost Capitol Hill: Frederick Douglass”

  1. T says:

    I know that the statue in Lincoln Park has always been controversal, but would anyone else be interested in starting a petition to have it removed? It’s just such a short-sighted, prejudiced, and disrespectful view of history.

  2. JEaton says:

    The statue was paid for by a subscription which was limited to the earned income of freed slaves. I don’t think our current attitudes about the aesthetics outweigh that unique provenance.

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