Today’s Google Doodle honors Frederick Douglass, whose autobiography provided a powerful boost to the cause of abolition of slavery in the 19th century. His exact birthdate is unknown but he celebrated it in February (Feb. 14).
I rode by the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site a couple weeks ago, pre-Snowzilla. It’s located in the Historic Anacostia neighborhood. (Anacostia is only one of the neighborhoods East of the River, although some mistakenly call the entire EOTR area Anacostia. That’s sort of like saying Georgetown to mean all of Northwest DC west of Rock Creek Park.)
Douglass was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland where he lived in enslavement. After learning to read and write, he became an avid reader and a teacher to other slaves. His master sent him to a notorious “slave-breaker” who beat him severely in an attempt to “break” him. The teenage Douglass fought back and the beatings stopped. Eventually he escaped to NYC and then Massachusetts. He campaigned against slavery and was often attacked by slavery supporters. He traveled to Ireland and Great Britain, partly to avoid recapture and re-enslavement. He spoke in favor of women’s rights during his time in Western New York (Rochester).
After the Civil War, he campaigned against the rise of the KKK in the old Confederacy, which sought to restore white supremacy through violent means. President Grant helped to suppress the (original) KKK in the early 1870s.
After his Rochester, NY house burned down (possibly from arson), he moved to Washington DC. He purchased property at Cedar Hill in what was known as Uniontown (now Historic Anacostia). This is the house that is now known as the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.
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It’s located on W St SE, between 14th & 15th St., a few blocks from Martin Luther King Ave.
I know Anacostia is frequently associated with crime, and there is some basis for that. But most of the violent crime takes place at night. For a cyclist or pedestrian, there is about as much cause to worry about an aggressive or inattentive car driver in a “safe” neighborhood. That is, it pays to be smart and aware in any neighborhood.
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