View source for Frederick Douglass National Historic Site

{{Short description|House and grounds in Washington, D.C.}}
{{Infobox protected area
| name = Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
| iucn_category =
| photo = Frederick Douglass House.jpg
| photo_caption =
| map = United States Washington, D.C. east#District of Columbia#USA
| map_caption =
| location = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| nearest_city = Washington, D.C.
| coordinates = {{coords|38|51|48|N|76|59|07|W|region:US-DC_type:landmark|display=inline, title}}
| area_acre = 9
| established = February 12, 1988
| visitation_num = 23,226
| visitation_year = 2005
| governing_body = [[National Park Service]]
| website = [https://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm Frederick Douglass National Historic Site]
}}

The '''Frederick Douglass National Historic Site''', administered by the [[National Park Service]], is located at 1411 W Street, SE, in [[Anacostia]], a neighborhood east of the Anacostia River in Southeast [[Washington, D.C.]] United States. Established in 1988 as a National Historic Site, the site preserves the home and estate of [[Frederick Douglass]], one of the most prominent [[African American]]s of the 19th century. Douglass lived in this house, which he named '''Cedar Hill''', from 1877–1878 until his death in 1895. Perched on a hilltop, the site offers a sweeping view of the [[U.S. Capitol]] and the Washington, D.C., skyline.

In 2017 the site was used to represent Washington, D.C., on its [[America the Beautiful quarters|America the Beautiful quarter]].

==History==
[[File:Cedar Hill Washington DC View of Washington DC.jpg|thumb|left|The view of Washington, DC taken from the 2nd floor bay window]]
The site of the Frederick Douglass home originally was purchased by John Van Hook in about 1855. Van Hook built the main portion of the present house soon after taking possession of the property. For a portion of 1877, the house was owned by the [[Freedom Savings and Trust Company]]. Later that year, Douglass purchased the home and expanded its 14 rooms to 21, including two-story library and kitchen wings. The house has an L shape, and its plan is reminiscent of the design of [[Andrew Jackson Downing]].<ref>Kaiser, Harvey H. (2008). ''The National Park Architecture Sourcebook''. Princeton Architectural Press (437–439), p. 438, {{ISBN|1-56898-742-0}}.</ref>

With the election of President [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] in 1876, Douglass hoped for a political appointment, likely postmaster for Rochester, New York, or ambassador to Haiti. Instead, he was appointed marshal for the District of Columbia, a role which he accepted.<ref name=Oakes276>Oakes, James. ''The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics''. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2007: 276. {{ISBN|978-0-393-33065-6}}.</ref> His appointment to this highly visible position marked the first time a black man successfully received a federal appointment requiring Senate approval.<ref>Stauffer, John. ''Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln''. New York: Twelve/Hachette Book Group, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-446-54300-2}}.</ref> Douglass, however, was not asked to fill many of the roles expected of a marshal. Typically, the marshal would attend formal [[White House]] gatherings and directly introduce guests to the President. Douglass, excused from this role, later complained that he should have resigned because of the slight.<ref>McFeely, William S. ''Frederick Douglass''. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1991: 291. {{ISBN|0-393-31376-X}}.</ref> Still, the job brought him financial stability, and in 1877, with a $6,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=6000|start_year=1877}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) loan from his black friend and former abolitionist [[Robert Purvis]], he purchased the 14-room Victorian home on {{cvt|9|acres|spell=in}} and named it Cedar Hill. He bought an additional {{cvt|15|acres}} around the property the following year.<ref>O'Keefe, Rose. ''Frederick & Anna Douglass in Rochester, New York: Their Home Was Open to All''. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013: 90. {{ISBN|978-1-62619-181-5}}.</ref>

In the home, Douglass became a cultivated member of high society. He and his grandson Joseph played the music of [[Franz Schubert]] in the west parlor, which served as the music room.<ref>McFeely, William S. ''Frederick Douglass''. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1991: 306. {{ISBN|0-393-31376-X}}</ref>

==Works==
[[File:Growlery reconst Douglass.JPG|thumb|left|The reconstructed "Growlery" where Douglass worked at his writing]]
[[File:FREDERICK DOUGLASS N.H.S. WASHINGTON D.C..jpg|thumb|right|Douglass's study]]
After moving to his new house, Frederick Douglass read and also wrote his books in the studio that is located in the yard of the house, one of them was his last autobiographical book, ''[[Life and Times of Frederick Douglass]]'', first published in 1881 and reissued 10 years later.<ref name=Oakes276/> His wife Anna had a stroke in 1882 which left her partially paralyzed; she died on August 4 and Douglass became depressed.<ref>Burchard, Peter. ''Frederick Douglass: For the Great Family of Man''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003: 190. {{ISBN|0-689-83240-0}}</ref> "The main pillar of my house has fallen", he wrote to a friend.<ref>Barnes, L. Diane. ''Frederick Douglass: Reformer and Statesmen''. New York: Routledge, 2013: 123. {{ISBN|978-0-415-89111-0}}.</ref>

In 1886, Douglass published the book Three Addresses on the Relations Subsisting between the White and Colored People of the United States, and in 1895 completed his book  Why is the Negro lynched?

==Marriage with Helen Pitts Douglass ==
{{Main|Helen Pitts Douglass}}
In January 1884, Douglass applied for a marriage license at [[District of Columbia City Hall]] before heading to the home of Reverend [[Francis James Grimké]] and [[Charlotte Forten Grimké]], where he married a white woman named [[Helen Pitts Douglass|Helen Pitts]].<ref name=OKeefe94>O'Keefe, Rose. ''Frederick & Anna Douglass in Rochester, New York: Their Home Was Open to All''. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013: 94. {{ISBN|978-1-62619-181-5}}.</ref> The marriage, held January 2,<ref name=Barnes124>Barnes, L. Diane. ''Frederick Douglass: Reformer and Statesmen''. New York: Routledge, 2013: 124. {{ISBN|978-0-415-89111-0}}</ref> was not approved by most members of either family. Helen's father, an abolitionist who was previously proud to know Douglass personally, never offered his blessing and refused to visit Washington unless he knew his daughter and her husband were out of town.<ref name=McFeely320>McFeely, William S. ''Frederick Douglass''. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1991: 320. {{ISBN|0-393-31376-X}}.</ref> Douglass had hired Pitts as a clerk in 1882. She was a graduate of [[Mount Holyoke College]] and had been a teacher of freed blacks in Virginia and Indiana.<ref name=Barnes124/> Interviewed about her marriage, she responded, "Love came to me and I was not afraid to marry the man I loved because of his color."<ref name=OKeefe94/> One newspaper article noted, "Goodbye, black blood in that family. We have no further use for him. His picture hangs in our parlor, we will hang it in the stables."<ref name=McFeely320/>

== Death of Frederick Douglass ==

On February 20, 1895, Douglass attended a women's rights rally in Washington and was escorted to the platform by [[Anna Howard Shaw]] and [[Susan B. Anthony]]. He returned to Cedar Hill for an early supper and intended to attend a neighborhood black church. As he was telling his second wife Helen about one of the day's speakers, he suddenly collapsed.<ref>McFeely, William S. ''Frederick Douglass''. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1991: 381. {{ISBN|0-393-31376-X}}.</ref>

==Later history==
After Douglass's death, his widow, Helen Pitts Douglass, founded the '''Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association''' in 1900. In 1916, the [[National Association of Colored Women|National Association of Colored Women's Clubs]] joined with the association. In the 1920s, Black architect [[William Augustus Hazel]] was commissioned to restore the house.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Dreck Spurlock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OaSAgAAQBAJ |title=African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865-1945 |date=March 2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-95629-5 |pages=273–278 |language=en}}</ref> The restoration was completed in 1922, and is believed to have been the first historic architectural preservation project by a Black architect in the United States.<ref name=":0" /> 

These two groups owned the house until 1962, when the federal government took the deed to the house through the National Park Service, with the intent of restoring and preserving it.<ref>{{cite book |title=Frederick Douglass House |series=Historic American Buildings Survey |publisher=Library of Congress| url=https://www.loc.gov/item/dc0092/ }}.</ref> Also on site are an interpretive visitor center and a reconstruction<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/frdo/learn/historyculture/index.htm National Park Service website on Cedar Hill]; one of the rotating "Did You Know?" text's begins: "Behind Cedar Hill is a reconstruction of the "Growlery," where Frederick Douglass...".</ref> of Douglass's "Growlery", a small stone building in which he secluded himself while writing and studying. In 2017, the site was featured on the 37th quarter in the [[America the Beautiful Quarters]] series.<ref>{{cite web |date=4 April 2017 |title=United States Mint Launches 37th America the Beautiful Quarters® Program Coin |url=https://www.usmint.gov/news/press-releases/mint-launches-37th-america-the-beautiful-quarters-program-coin |access-date=26 December 2019 |website=usmint.gov}}</ref>

The Frederick Douglass National Historic Site is located about a 10-minute walk from the [[Anacostia (Washington Metro)|Anacostia Metro station]].

==See also==
* [[National Museum of African American History and Culture]]
* [[National Museum of African Art]]
* [[Alexandria Black History Museum]]
* [[Anacostia Community Museum]]
* [[List of museums focused on African Americans]]
*[[Anna Murray Douglass]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commonscat}}
*{{official web site}}
* [http://www.frederickdouglass.org/ Frederick Douglass.org]
* [http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/164394-1 "Writings of Frederick Douglass"], broadcast from the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, [[C-SPAN]], ''[[American Writers: A Journey Through History|American Writers]]'', May 28, 2001.

{{Frederick Douglass|state=expanded}}
{{Washington DC landmarks}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
{{Protected Areas of the District of Columbia}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglass, Frederick, National Historic Site}}
[[Category:African-American museums in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Buildings of the United States government in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:National Historic Sites in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Frederick Douglass|National Historic Site]]
[[Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:National Capital Parks-East]]
[[Category:Biographical museums in Washington, D.C.|Douglass, Frederick National Historic Site]]
[[Category:Houses in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Historic house museums in Washington, D.C.]]