Douglass family

Douglass
Frederick Douglass (right) with grandson Joseph Douglass (c. 1890s).
Parent family	Bailey
Country	United States
Etymology	Douglas
Place of origin	Cordova, Talbot County, Maryland, US
Founded	1830s
Founder	Frederick Douglass
Estate(s)	Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Douglass Place

The Douglass family is a prominent American family originating from Cordova, Maryland, United States. It was founded by the politician and activist Frederick Douglass.

History

Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, Frederick Douglass assumed the surname from the poem The Lady of the Lake (1810) by Sir Walter Scott after his escape from slavery to hide from his former master. He did this as a result of the proposal of a friend. As he explains in his first autobiography:

I gave Mr. Johnson the privilege of choosing me a name, but told him he must not take from me the name of "Frederick." I must hold on to that, to preserve a sense of my identity. Mr. Johnson had just been reading the Lady of the Lake, and at once suggested that my name be "Douglass."^[1]

His family would later go on to become a part of the African-American upper class, continuing to provide leadership and intermarrying with descendants of the African-American educationist and political kingmaker Booker T. Washington.^[2]

Members in selection

• Frederick Douglass (c.1818–1895), statesman, writer
• Anna Murray Douglass (1813–1882) abolitionist, first wife of Frederick Douglass
  • Rosetta Douglass-Sprague (1839–1906), teacher and activist
    • Fredericka Douglass Sprague Perry (1872–1943), philanthropist
  • Lewis Henry Douglass (1840–1908), soldier
  • Frederick Douglass, Jr. (1842–1892), abolitionist, essayist, newspaper editor, soldier^[3]
  • Charles Remond Douglass (1844–1920), soldier, journalist, and real-estate developer
    • Joseph Douglass (1871–1935), musician
• Helen Pitts Douglass (1838–1903), suffragist, second wife of Frederick Douglass

See also

• List of things named after Frederick Douglass
• Frederick Douglass Memorial
• Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
• Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge

References

1. Douglass, Frederick (1845). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself. Boston, Massachusetts: The Anti-Slavery Office. p. 112.
2. Garbus, Rachel (January 24, 2024). "The ancestors of Nettie Washington Douglass still have stories to teach us. She just hopes we are ready to listen". Atlanta Magazine. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
3. Fought, Leigh (2017). Women in the World of Frederick Douglass. Oxford University Press. p. 310. ISBN 9780199782611.