[Update] On my third visit, the site was open after renovations, and the tour allows unique insights into his life. Through hard work, intellect and moral courage, Frederick Douglass became renowned author, public speaker, publisher, adviser to many presidents, US Marshal of DC, diplomat and civil rights leader. He purchased his home on one of the highest hills in our nation’s capital, with a grand view of the Washington Monument. The neighborhood is now historic, and the surrounding area is predominantly African American, some descended from the Civil War refugees who lived in camps near the city for protection. Douglass was cognizant of the lack of African American role models when he was young, so he consciously presented himself well, and gifts like his bust above were meant to inspire another generation of leaders.

Douglass taught himself to read, escaping slavery around age 20, with the help of a free black woman he then married, fleeing to New Bedford where he soon joined abolitionists and his story is published. Pursued by slave hunters, he flees to England, and returns when donors purchase his freedom. He publishes an influential newspaper that supports both abolition and women’s suffrage and several books. During the Civil War, he advises Lincoln and urges African Americans to join the army. After the war, he buys his beautiful home on Cedar Hill overlooking our nation’s capital and continues writing books, public speaking and advocating for human rights. But, perhaps to recall his roots and to inspire him, he did much of his writing in the rough outbuilding—called the Growlery—behind his house, pictured above. Among his many accomplishments, he is often remembered as one of America’s greatest orators.