Returning to His Roots
At the height of his political influence, Frederick Douglass embarked on a personal journey to revisit his childhood roots. Even though he had traveled far and wide in the years since he escaped from slavery, he never could forget his childhood, living enslaved in Maryland as property of the Auld family.
Douglass Inquiring Plantation Owners in Santo Domingo by James E. Taylor.
Courtesy National Park Service, Museum Management Program and Frederick Douglass National Historic Site; FRDO 175, Carol M. Highsmith, photographer, www.cr.nps.gov/museum
From Slave to Statesman
Frederick Douglass achieved landmark success with his presidential appointments and in his political career.
1871 Commissioner to Santo Domingo, appointment by President Grant
1872 Nomination for vice president by Equal Rights Party alongside presidential nominee Victoria Woodhull, but Douglass supported election of President Grant instead
1877 US marshal for the District of Columbia, appointment by President Hayes
1881 Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia, appointment by President Garfield
1889 Minister and Consul to Haiti, appointment by President Harrison
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-DIG-cwpbh-05089
Frederick Douglass led the influential leaders of his day to pave the way for the American civil rights movement.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-1561
His heart was still full of sorrow because of his early separation from his family. He missed his beloved grandmother. He missed the natural affections he should have been able to share with his brother and sisters but which slavery denied them. Even though he had been living as a free citizen for many years, laws and slave codes had kept him out of the state of Maryland prior to the Civil War.
Years earlier, in 1848, on the 10th anniversary of his escape, the pangs of separation from his family deeply troubled Frederick Douglass. It was evening, and his household was quiet. Little Rosetta and the rest of his children were sleeping in their warm beds under the safety of their father’s roof. The delicious smell of Anna’s homemade bread and hearty supper still lingered in the air. Frederick Douglass sat down next to a flickering lamp and took pen and paper in hand.
Heart full, he wrote a letter to his old master and slaveholder, Thomas Auld. In the letter, Douglass implored Auld to send him information about his brother and sisters. He pleaded with Auld to set his grandmother free, if she was still alive, and send her to live with him in Rochester where he could love her and care for her as should be his natural human right. He challenged Auld to step into his shoes for a moment and imagine if Douglass held Auld’s family in bondage—what would be Auld’s thoughts? His feelings? His passions? His pain?
Douglass mailed the letter but received no reply.
At some point, Douglass learned that his sister Eliza had married and been set free in the 1830s when her free husband had purchased her and her children. Eliza and Frederick stayed in contact as much as they could.
For over 40 years, Frederick Douglass searched to find his brother Perry. He sent agents deep into the southern states. It wasn’t until after the war ended, however, that the brothers were finally reunited. Perry was in Texas at the time, still enslaved, when he heard that emancipation had come. Finally learning of Perry’s whereabouts, Douglass brought him and his family to Rochester where they settled in a house nearby. The joy in everyone’s hearts was beyond what words could describe.
Once the Civil War was over, there were no laws keeping free African Americans out of Maryland; all blacks were forever free. Now Frederick Douglass was a great man, famous on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, appointed by President Hayes to be US Marshal for the District of Columbia. It was in this position of influence that Frederick Douglass decided to return to Talbot County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It was a journey long overdue, one that he had yearned to embark on for many years. He decided to go home.
An Unexpected Visit
Frederick Douglass accepted the invitation of his friend Charles Caldwell to visit Talbot County, Maryland, the place Douglass had been born. While there, an unexpected invitation arrived. Captain Thomas Auld, feeble, bedridden, and in his 80s, had heard that Douglass was in the area. Auld’s servant met with Douglass and expressed Auld’s wishes. Would Douglass come to visit him?
Without hesitation, Frederick Douglass accepted the offer. “Now that slavery was destroyed,” Douglass explained, “and the slave and the master stood upon equal ground, I was not only willing to meet him, but was very glad to do so.” Even though his memories were full of his old master’s harsh and horrific actions as slaveholder, Douglass did not harbor bitterness in his heart. Douglass said, “I regarded him as I did myself, a victim of the circumstances of birth, education, law, and custom. Our courses had been determined for us, not by us.”
Historic marker in St. Michaels, Talbot County, Maryland, near the site where Frederick Douglass once lived as a slave and returned years later as a famous statesman. Photo by author
The Mitchell House in St. Michaels, Maryland, was home to Eliza Bailey Mitchell and her family. Frederick and Eliza stayed in contact as much as their circumstances allowed. Photo by author
In 1877 Frederick Douglass visited his old master Thomas Auld here in the home of Auld’s daughter in St. Michaels, Maryland. Photo by author
In 1878 Douglass stayed at the Brick Hotel in Easton, Maryland, where he received callers in between well-attended speaking engagements. Photo by author
When Frederick Douglass arrived at the home of William and Louisa Bruff, Auld’s son-in-law and daughter, he was greeted graciously and taken to Thomas Auld’s bedside. “We addressed each other simultaneously,” Douglass remembered. “He calling me ‘Marshal Douglass,’ and I, as I had always called him, ‘Captain Auld.’”
The two men shook hands. Moved by great emotion, tears flowed down Auld’s cheeks and Douglass could not find his voice.
When at last both men could speak again, Douglass asked Auld what he thought about his escape from slavery. “He hesitated a moment,” Douglass shared, “as if to properly formulate his reply, and said: ‘Frederick, I always knew you were too smart to be a slave, and had I been in your place, I should have done as you did.’ I said, ‘Capt. Auld, I am glad to hear you say this. I did not run away from you, but from slavery; it was not that I loved Caesar less, but Rome more.’”
The two men talked peacefully together. Auld reassured Douglass that he had taken note of his concern for his grandmother and in her old age had rescued her from poverty to care for her. This brought a measure of comfort to Douglass’s heart. After a short time, for Thomas Auld was very weak and sick, the two parted ways. A chapter in the life of Frederick Douglass had drawn to a close. Thomas Auld died soon after that unforgettable day.
“The abolition of slavery has not merely emancipated the Negro, but liberated the whites,”
—Frederick Douglass
Their Native Son
Times had changed the hearts of many, even if not all. Frederick Douglass was deeply glad to see that former slaveholder and former slave could now stand as equals. He hoped every American could experience the healing and peace that he had known.
In 1878 Frederick Douglass returned again to Talbot County, Maryland, for another visit. This time he stayed at the Brick Hotel in Easton, the place next to Law’s Tavern, where slave hunters and slave traders used to gather. He remembered that 45 years earlier he had been tied up and locked in the jail across the street for attempting an escape, and slave traders from Law’s Tavern had visited him to evaluate his worth.
That was long ago and in a different world, it seemed. Now Douglass was an invited guest at the hotel. As a famous statesman, he spoke at the Talbot County Courthouse next to the jail, where he saw familiar faces of Talbot County officials in his audience. He remembered them well from his days as a slave. While in Easton, he vi
sited local churches and spoke to their congregations.
Talbot County’s native son had come home.
Through his efforts as famous abolitionist, brilliant orator, and outspoken newspaper editor, Frederick Douglass had done his part to make such a homecoming possible.
During his visit to the Maryland’s Eastern Shore in 1878, Douglass spoke here to the congregation of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. Photo by author
Asbury A.M.E. Church was the second church where Douglass lectured when he visited Easton in Talbot County, Maryland in 1878. Photo by author
Douglass delivered his “Self-Made Men” speech in 1878 at the Talbot County Courthouse in Easton, Maryland. Photo by author
7
“AND THAT GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE EARTH”
To Honor a Great Man
Frederick Douglass had close friends among well-known white abolitionists and woman’s suffrage leaders, as well as leading black men and women of his day. He moved freely among the circles of all his friends, yet many of his biographies showcase only his white contemporaries. Douglass, however, also shared the speaker’s platform with, corresponded through letters with, traveled with, attended conventions with, published in his newspapers, and entertained in his own home nearly every black leader, black minister, black educator, and black abolitionist of his day.
Along with a marble bust, this statue of Frederick Douglass was also erected in the city of Rochester, New York. Courtesy of Claire Marziotti
Rochester Honors Its Famous Citizen
Frederick Douglass was a great man with great ideals. Several years after he moved to Washington, DC, the city of Rochester commissioned a bust of Douglass’s head and shoulders to be carved from marble. Rochester, the city where he had lived for 25 years, decided to honor its most famous citizen.
Frederick Douglass sent a letter expressing his thankfulness for the city’s gracious and kind deed. Rochester responded by publishing his letter in a local newspaper along with these words:
Rochester is proud to remember that Frederick Douglass was, for many years, one of her citizens. He who pointed out the house where Douglass lived, hardly exaggerated when he called it the residence of the greatest of our citizens, for Douglass must rank as among the greatest men, not only of this city, but of the nation as well—great in his inspiration, greater in his efforts for humanity—great in the persuasion of his speech, greater in the purpose that informed it.
Cedar Hill
In 1878 Frederick Douglass and Anna moved one last time. They purchased a beautiful home named Cedar Hill that sat atop a hillside on a 15-acre estate. Situated in Anacostia, DC, just outside the capital, the Douglasses loved their grand new home. Relaxing in the rockers on their front porch, Frederick and Anna could look to their right over the hills and valleys and see toward Baltimore, the place of Frederick’s childhood as a slave and where Frederick and Anna first met. They could also look to the left over the cityscape and see the dome of the nation’s capital, the place Douglass now worked as a famous statesman in his appointments by various presidents.
Many happy memories were shared here at Cedar Hill. By now their children were grown and had families of their own. The Douglass grandchildren were always welcome as part of the household when they visited. Frederick and Anna loved their grandchildren and even kept an upstairs bedroom ready for them to spend the night.
Important dignitaries from the nearby capital as well as numerous friends of the family made their way from the crowded city to the peaceful home sitting atop the hill. Anna, who loved to cook, often heard frequent requests for her homemade Maryland beaten biscuits. Tying on her apron, she headed into her kitchen and prepared a delicious home-cooked meal for their guests. By the time their visitors arrived, the house was filled with the savory smells of a tasty dinner and mouth-watering aroma of Anna’s signature biscuits.
The Douglass family was very musical. Frederick Douglass’s deep voice could be heard singing his favorite songs to entertain their guests. He also enjoyed playing the violin, a love that was picked up by grandson Joseph H. Douglass.
Conversation was lively in the Douglass household, and company was always greeted with open arms. In their personal diaries or letters, various people mentioned the joyous evenings they shared with the Douglass family at Cedar Hill during these years.
Joseph Douglass, grandson of Frederick Douglass. Courtesy National Park Service, Museum Management Program and Frederick Douglass National Historic Site; FRDO 3877, Carol M. Highsmith, photographer, www.cr.nps.gov/museum
Cedar Hill, the picturesque home of Frederick Douglass, overlooks the nation’s capital. Photo by author, courtesy National Park Service, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
SCULPT A STATUE
A famous statue of Frederick Douglass stands in the city of Rochester, New York, to honor one of its greatest citizens.
Materials
Clean-up supplies such as paper towels and a bucket of water
Air-dry clay, 2½ pounds
Paper clip
Tools for working with clay, such as plastic knife, plastic fork, and plastic spoon
Rolling pin
For this project, work on a protected surface. Keep paper towels and a bucket of water nearby. Plan to make the statue all at once or the clay might start to dry out.
Divide the clay into three lumps of equal size. Form one lump into a base for the statue. Flatten it into a 1-inch slab and roll it along its edge to form a solid disc.
Write the name “Frederick Douglass” along the front edge of the disc. To write letters in clay, open up a paperclip to make a point, and gently poke little holes to form the shape of each letter. Turn the disc over and write your name and today’s date on the bottom. Set this aside.
Roll the second lump of clay into a thick log measuring 6 to 8 inches tall. With your hands, shape one end of the log to form a round ball for the head. The neck can be thick to hold its support. Use a plastic knife to cut the bottom of the log to form the legs. Use the plastic knife to cut two arms.
Shape shoes at the bottom of each leg and position this body onto the base you formed from the first lump. (Follow the directions on the package to join two pieces of clay together. You might need to add a drop or two of water in between the two pieces to help them join permanently.) Shape the body so it stands up on the base, and position the arms to be reaching out at its side.
Use the third lump of clay to add clothes and details to the body. Flatten a thin piece of clay by rolling it with the rolling pin. Cut out a jacket front for one side, fold back the jacket collar, and place it gently on the front left of the statue. Repeat for the front right of the statue. Then cut out a flat rectangle and place it on the back of the statue to complete Douglass’s coat.
Roll a 1 x 2-inch flat, thin rectangle and place it on the top of the head to form his hair. A tiny strip of the same thickness can be placed on his chin to form his beard. Use a paper clip to press lightly into the clay to give texture to his hair and beard.
Add details such as his nose, hands, and a tie by pressing tiny shapes of clay to the statue. Draw his eyes and mouth with the point of the paper clip.
Follow the directions on the package of clay to dry the statue.
MARYLAND BEATEN BISCUITS
Anna Douglass was well known as a wonderful cook. One of the recipes her guests requested most often was Maryland beaten biscuits. These round biscuits, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, originally came from Maryland’s Eastern Shore during plantation days. The dough was placed on a clean tree stump and pounded with the flat side of an ax for half an hour. The more it was pounded, the lighter the biscuits would be.
In gredients
4 cups flour
Dash of salt
1½ tablespoons lard or vegetable shortening
1¾ cup water
Materials
Mixing bowl
&
nbsp; Fork
Large cutting board
Meat tenderizer or mallet
Cookie sheet
Adult supervision required
Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and stir them together. Cut in the lard by pressing it into the flour with a fork. Pour in the water and mix together by hand.
Put the lump of dough of a lightly floured cutting board. Be sure to work on a sturdy surface such as a picnic table or sturdy countertop. Hit the dough repeatedly with the flat size of the meat tenderizer for half an hour, folding it over when it gets thin. Take turns with your family or friends.
When you’re finished, roll small pieces of dough into 1½-inch balls and place them on a cookie sheet. Prick the top of each ball with a fork. Bake at 425°F for 25 minutes. Makes 18 biscuits.
The kitchen at Cedar Hill. Photo by author, courtesy National Park Service, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
The Douglass Children
Frederick and Anna were very proud of their children, who all grew up to become responsible citizens with families of their own. They made sure their children received the best education, even hiring private tutors when public schools did not open their doors to African Americans. Frederick Douglass enlisted them in his newspaper work and involved them in various aspects of his influential political career.
Frederick Douglass for Kids Page 13