Frederick Douglas joined fellow African-Americans in Emancipation Hall when a 7-foot bronze statue was unveiled earlier this week.
Frederick Douglas was born a slave in 1818 in Maryland, but after escaping he became a well-known writer and proponent of social reform. He worked with Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson concerning black suffrage and the treatment of black soldiers in the army.
On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden attended the unveiling of a statue and led a series of tributes to the historic orator. Biden, along with Senator Harry Reid and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, called for equal voting rights for citizens of the District of Columbia at the unveiling, an issue at is dear not only to them but was also important to Douglas as well.
Nettie Washington Douglas attended the ceremony to see her great great grandfather join other historical, influential black Americans like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. in the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall.
Photo: AP/File