Frederick Douglass Jr.

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey Douglass Jr. (March 3, 1842 – July 26, 1892) was the second son of Frederick Douglass and his wife Anna Murray Douglass. Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, he was an abolitionist, essayist, newspaper editor, and an official recruiter of African-American soldiers for the United States Union Army during the American Civil War.

Early life

Douglass was the third eldest of five children born to the Douglass family, comprising three sons and two daughters. As a youngster while still under his parents' roof he joined them as active members and conductors of the Underground Railroad, receiving fugitives at their Rochester, New York home; feeding and clothing them, and providing safe, warm shelter as they made their way from bondage to freedom, which for many of these meant escape to British North America.

Military service

During the American Civil War, Douglass joined his father as a recruiter of United States Colored Troops for the Union Army and was commissioned a Recruiting Sergeant, attached to the U.S. 25th Colored Infantry. Although he himself was never a combat soldier during the American Civil War conflict, as were his two brothers, he was proud to have been a recruiter in behalf of the Union cause, especially regarding the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. As such, he worked closely with his father who had been the foremost civilian recruiter for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, and who had also served as a consultant and advisor to President Abraham Lincoln on the enlistment of African-Americans into the Union Army, in supporting the Commander in Chief's objective of reinforcing the Union's armed forces to put down the rebellion of the break-away Confederate States. Both his older brother Lewis Henry Douglass and younger brother Charles Remond Douglass were among the first enlistees in that regiment.

Career

Douglass was a printer and editor, having learned these skills while working as an apprentice on his father's newspaper '' The North Star''. Together with his father and his brother Lewis, Douglass became co-editor of the ''New Era'' or ''New National Era'', a journal published specifically post–Civil War freed slaves, between the years 1870 to 1874. Douglass was also a trained typesetter, having completed formal training at Denver, Colorado. When his father, Frederick Douglass Sr., was appointed United States Marshal by President Rutherford B. Hayes in the year 1877, Douglass was made a bailiff and later attained a clerkship in the office of the Recorder of Deeds during his father's tenure in that role for the District of Columbia which was from 1881 until 1885.

Personal life

On August 4, 1869, Virginia Hewlett Douglass and Frederick Douglass, Jr. married in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Together they had seven children: Fredrick Aaron Douglass (1870–1886), Virginia Anna Douglass (1871–1872), Lewis Emmanuel Douglass (c.1874–1875), Maud Ardell Douglass (1877–1877), Gertrude Pearl Douglass (1883–1887), Robert Smalls Douglass (1886–1910), Charles Paul Douglass (1879–1895). Five predeceased their parents, four dying in infancy and early childhood, and only Robert survived past the age of sixteen, dying however at twenty-four as well.

Death

Frederick Douglass Jr. died on July 26, 1892, and was initially interred at Graceland Cemetery, beside his wife Virginia Hewlett who had preceded him in death on December 14, 1889. This later changed with the closing of Graceland Cemetery in 1894; the remains were exhumed and removed to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Benning Ridge section of Washington, D.C.

Regarding his application for a clerkship in the office of the Recorder of Deeds

The following represents correspondence between Frederick Douglass jr., and District of Columbia Register of Deeds, Simon Wolf. It goes on to describe content of the cover letter accompanying his application for a clerkship within that office.

"Yesterday Simon Wolf, Esq., the newly appointed register of deeds, received the following letter from Frederick Douglass, jr., a brother of Mr. harlesDouglass, at the Government office (and not the 'colored printer at the Government office,' as erroneously stated in the Star'' of yesterday). The letter will be read with interest at this time:"

The following is the official reply:

Citations

General sources

*

Further reading

*
** Reprinted as
* Douglass, Frederick, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Anti-Slavery Office, 1845.

External links

Frederick Douglass' family and the roots of social justice

Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C.: The Lion of Anacostia

"New Dawn for Freedom"
€”An exhibition at the Univ. of Cal. Santa Barbara Multicultural Center

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglass, Frederick Jr.
African Americans in the American Civil War
Union army soldiers
1842 births
1892 deaths
Frederick Douglass Jr.
African-American activists
19th-century American newspaper editors
Activists for African-American civil rights
Free Negroes
American journalists
Activists from Rochester, New York
Writers from Rochester, New York