Frederick Douglass Autograph, Authentic Signature, African American Abolitionist

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Frederick Douglass Autograph, Authentic Signature, African American Abolitionist:
$995.00

Frederick Douglass Autograph

Among Frederick Douglass’s many titles and accomplishments, acting as the Recorder of Deeds for Washington, D.C. was one of his lesser-known occupations. While Douglass’s letters are scarce and expensive, documents he signed during his tenure in this position are very affordable. This Douglass autograph from an 1885 deed is archivally framed and ready to hang. The entire deed is present under the mat.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS. Document Signed. Land deed. Washington, D.C., February 25, 1885. 14 x 22 in., framed. #20409.011 $995

Historical Background

President James Garfield appointed Douglass as Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia in 1881. While a high paying job, it was actually a demotion from his former job as U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, a position he had held since Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him in 1877. Douglass worked as the Recorder of Deeds until 1886 when he resigned to spend the next two years traveling in Europe and Africa with his second wife, Helen Pitts. Pitts, a white woman from a Rochester, N.Y. abolitionist family, had been Douglass’s clerk in the deeds office. Their interracial marriage created a firestorm of controversy among both black and white commentators, including both of their respective families. Upon Douglass’s return to the United States, Benjamin Harrison named him ambassador to Haiti.

Frederick Douglass (1817[?]-1895) was an orator, journalist, abolitionist, and distinguished African-American leader. Born a slave in Tuckahoe, Maryland, as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, he assumed the name Douglass after his escape from slavery in 1838. In 1841, Douglass successfully addressed a Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society convention and was employed as its agent. He wrote Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845 to document his experiences and sufferings, and to silence those who contended that a man of his abilities could not have been a slave. Douglass soon became a noted anti-slavery orator and supporter of women’s rights, lecturing in both the United States and England. He attended the Seneca Falls Convention on women’s rights and signed its Declaration of Sentiments. Douglass edited his own newspaper, The North Star, for several years. During the Civil War, he was instrumental in advocating for African-American combat units, and in raising troops. He fought for passage of the Thirteenth (Abolition), Fourteenth (Citizenship and Equal Protection) and Fifteenth (Voting Rights) Amendments, through testimony to Congress, reports to the President and regular appearances on the lecture circuit. In 1872, Douglass was nominated for vice-president by the Equal Rights Party on a ticket headed by Victoria Woodhull. Douglass was the first African American to serve in important federal posts, including Marshal of the District of Columbia (1877-1881). President James Garfield appointed Douglass as Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia, then a high-paying job. Douglass held the position for five years, resigning in 1886 to spend the next two years traveling to Europe and Africa with his second wife. He then became Minister-General to Haiti (1889-1891).

SETH KALLER, INC.Historic Documents and Legacy Collections
For over 20 years, Seth Kaller has been one of the country’s largest buyers of important historic documents and artifacts. More than 10,000 rare manuscripts, documents, maps, and books handled by Kaller are now in institutional and private collections including working drafts of the United States Constitution, Lincoln-signed copies of the 13th Amendment and Emancipation Proclamation, and rare prints and broadsides of the Declaration of Independence.
Kaller is a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA), the Professional Autograph Dealers Association (PADA), the American Antiquarian Society, the Manuscript Society, the New-York Historical Society’s Chairman’s Council, and the Papers of Abraham Lincoln Advisory Board.
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