The Climb to Cedar Hill

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

~ Frederick Douglass

The life of Frederick Douglass was certainly an uphill climb from his birth as a slave to his career as a fiery abolitionist orator of world renown to Cedar Hill where he lived his last seventeen years of life.  Yet, his journey was a testament to the power of the spoken and written language to affect positive changes in one life and through that life, in a whole society. 

Courtesy of the National Park Service, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site,
Frederick Douglass, 1883 oil painting by Sarah J. Eddy,
FRDO Catalogue Number 125.

Born into slavery on a plantation near the eastern shore of Maryland in February 1818, the son of a slave woman and an unknown white man, Frederick Douglass experienced all the degradations of slavery, but did not allow his suffering to break his spirit.  Instead, he escaped to New England where he became a leading spokesman for the abolition of slavery and the equality of all people, whether they were blacks, women, Native Americans or recent immigrants.

"I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."

~ Frederick Douglass

Cedar Hill, historic home of Frederick Douglass
1401 W Street SE
Washington, D.C.

Yesterday, I also climbed the steps to Cedar Hill, the home in Washington, D.C. where Frederick Douglass lived from 1877 until his death at age 77 in 1895.  Cedar Hill is located in Anacostia, a neighborhood now populated by 92% blacks, 5% non-Hispanic whites and 3% other, according to the U. S. census taken in 2000.  That is a dramatic change for a neighborhood that was developed for "whites only" in 1854. 


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Originally known as Uniontown, this subdivision was laid out by developers John Fox, John Van Hook and John Dobler in the rural area across the Anacostia River from Capital Hill.  They marked off approximately 700 sizeable lots (24 feet by 130 feet) that were financially affordable (priced at $60 or $3.00/month for 25 months), hoping to attract workers from the nearby Navy Yard.  The subdivision's 1854 covenant prohibited the sale, rental or lease of property to anyone of African or Irish descent.  

Historic Anacostia District

Both John Fox and John Van Hook built lavish homes here.  The Fox home has long been demolished, but the former Van Hook home still sits atop a knoll overlooking the subdivision and the Anacostia River.  When John Van Hook declared bankruptcy in 1877, the home was purchased for $6,700 by Frederick & Anna Murray Douglass.  Leaving their cramped rowhouse at 320 A Street NE near the U.S. Capital where they had lived for the past seven years, the Douglasses christened their new home Cedar Hill for the numerous cedar trees on the property and promptly moved in, becoming the neighborhood's first black residents.  

View from Cedar Hill's front porch towards Capital Hill

From his rocker on Cedar Hill's front porch, Frederick Douglass saw a vista that was reminiscent of his life. 

U.S. Capital as viewed from Cedar Hill

To the northwest, he could see the dome of the Capital, the seat of the U.S. government where he had so tirelessly encouraged leaders to treat all equally.  He served as an advisor to four Presidents, beginning by urging Abraham Lincoln to emanipate Southern slaves during the Civil War.  Douglass was appointed the U.S. consul to the Republic of Haiti, served as U.S. Marshall for the District of Columbia and was elected chief officer of the Freedmans' Bank in addition to his speaking and writing career.

Northeast view towards Maryland from Cedar Hill

Looking northeast toward Baltimore from Cedar Hill's front porch, Douglass could recall his journey at the age of eight from the Maryland plantation where he had been born to Baltimore where he became a house servant in the home of Hugh and Sophia Auld at the age of seven.   Sophia Auld, noticing his curiosity, began to teach Douglass his letters, but when her husband learned of her endeavor, he furiously forbade her to continue.  It was in Baltimore that Douglass "got hold of" a copy of the Columbian Orator, a collection of political essays, poems and speeches with republican virtues, and met his future wife, Anna Murray, a black freewoman who later helped him to escape slavery.

Anna Murray Douglass

"Going to live at Baltimore laid the foundation, and opened the gateway to all my subsequent prosperity."

~ Frederick Douglass

In 1833, a now literate Frederick Douglass was punished for teaching other slaves to read the New Testament at weekly Sunday school and sent to the farm of Edward Covey, a notorious "slave-breaker."  Covey brutally beat the young 15-year-old Douglass in an attempt to break his spirit.  Vowing to run, Douglass finally managed to escape on September 3, 1838, with help from Anna and made his way north to New York in a desperate 24-hour journey.  Soon afterwards, Anna followed him and they married on September 15, 1838. 

Cedar Hill's East Parlor

"In a letter written to a friend soon after reaching New York, I said: 'I felt as one might feel upon escape from a den of hungry lions.' Anguish and grief, like darkness and rain, may be depicted; but gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil."

~ Frederick Douglass

Library at Cedar Hill

The couple moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts where Douglass attended abolitionist meetings and read William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper, "The Liberator."  Twenty-three-year-old Douglass was invited to speak about his experiences as a slave at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society's annual convention in Nantucket where he gave a stirring speech. One reporter described Douglass' speech by saying, "Flinty hearts were pierced, and cold ones melted by his eloquence."  Before he left Nantucket, Douglass accepted a three-year guest lecturer contract with the Society, thus launching his career as an orator and a writer.

Music Parlor

Cedar Hill's music parlor is furnished with a piano, a violin and other musical instruments. Douglass himself was an amateur violinist who shared his love of music with his family. In fact, one of his grandsons, Joseph Douglass, became a professional violinist, traveling nationally and internationally to perform on the concert stage

James M. Gregory's 1893 biography of Douglass mentions his flight to Scotland in 1845, when Douglass feared that Mr. Auld, his former owner, would reclaim him as a fugitive slave after he published his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Gregory wrote that Douglass "passed a street in a despondent mood,...saw a violin...bought it. He then went home, shut himself up, played for three days until he was in tune himself and went out into the world -- a cheerful man."

Upstairs hallway holds Frederick Douglass' luggage trunks from his extensive travels

Family was important to Frederick and Anna Douglass who had five children:  Rosetta Douglass, Lewis Henry Douglass, Frederick Douglass, Jr., Charles Remond Douglass, and Anna Douglass who died at age 10.  

Frederick Douglass, Jr. (left) and Charles Douglass (right)

Both Charles and Frederick Jr. joined the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first unit of the U.S. Army to be made up entirely of black soldiers, and survived Civil War, including the regiment's assault on Fort Wagner immortalized by the 1989 movie "Glory". 

54 Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry at the Assault of Ft. Wagner

Their father proudly hung this picture depicting that battle beside Cedar Hill's front door. 

Rosetta assisted her father with his writing.  Lewis H. Douglass became editor of his father's newspaper, The New National Era, and  introduced the 1872 law making segregation in public accommodations illegal.  Not surprising given their father's views, all the Douglass children were highly educated.

"Knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom."

~ Frederick Douglass

Dining Room

Family celebrations at Cedar Hill must have been lively since all four surviving children lived nearby and eventually produced twenty-one grandchildren. 

The Growlery

If the noise and activity became too distracting, Frederick Douglass could always retreat to his "man cave," the Growlery.   Douglass built this simple, stone hut  behind his home and furnished it with only a stove, bed and a desk.    There he could write or "growl" until his mood improved.

Courtesy of the National Park Service, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site,
Frederick Douglass, his second wife, Helen Pitts Douglass (right)
and her sister, Eva Pitts (standing), FRDO Catalogue Number 3912

Two years after Douglass' first wife, Anna, died in 1882, Frederick Douglass married Helen Pitts, a suffragist from a prominent New York family who had worked with Douglass.  Helen was white which stirred criticism at the time of the marriage, but when his motives were questioned, Douglass answered that color did not define or separate members of the human family.  Their union lasted 11 years until Frederick's fatal heart attack in 1895. 

Cedar Hill

Although the will bequeathing Cedar Hill to Frederick Douglass' second wife was ruled invalid, Helen felt so strongly that Cedar Hill should be preserved that she borrowed money to purchase the home from the Douglass children and established the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association.  Because of her determination, Cedar Hill retains many of the possessions that Frederick Douglass had at the time of his death and offers an intimate view of his life. 

"To those who have suffered in slavery I can say, I, too, have suffered...to those who have battled for liberty, brotherhood, and citizenship I can say, I, too, have battled."

~ Frederick Douglass

Yes, the climb to Cedar Hill was extraordinary!