A brief note on Robert Smalls & Frederick Douglass

With today, February 23, being 107 years since the passing of Civil War hero & United States Congressman Robert Smalls (1839 – 1915) we thought it appropriate to offer a brief note on his relationship with Frederick Douglass and the Douglass family.

According to lore, when Robert Smalls first met Frederick Douglass the young South Carolinian shared with his elder how while enslaved in Charleston Douglass’ autobiography had been passed around within his community with the foreknowledge that its possession could be a punishable offense.

While serving in South Carolina with the Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment Sgt. Lewis Henry Douglass reportedly met Robert Smalls, who famously stole a ship from the Confederate Navy and then served as its captain for the US Navy for the duration of the War.

First entering Congress in the 1870s and serving through the late 1880s, Smalls and Frederick Douglass were active members of the National Republican Party and active with local affairs within Washington City. Smalls and Douglass attended association meetings together, sat in pews together at Black churches throughout the city, organized and supported local philanthropic events together and shared the same stage countless times. Their families knew each other socially.

In 1888, as an example, Douglass and Smalls were both keynote speakers as part of the DC Emancipation Day activities in Washington.

For anyone who has toured the interior of Cedar Hill at the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site they can confirm that for generations Park Rangers have made a point of singling out a print of the USS Planter that hangs on the wall in the dining room.

Lastly, the relationship between the Douglass and Smalls family was of a closeness and sentiment that a grandchild of Frederick and Anna was named Robert Smalls Douglass.

JHM / Lost History Associates

Cumberland Times-News: “Historians discuss Douglass’ connections, travels in Allegany County” (February 22, 2022 / by Lindsay Renner-Wood)

CUMBERLAND — While they were crucial to his broader body of work, Frederick Douglass’ local connections don’t get the attention they deserve, two Washington, D.C.-based historians say.

In hopes of fixing that, John Muller and Justin McNeil — who previously visited Potomac State College in December to present on Douglass’ West Virginia travels — returned to the region Saturday to detail the statesman and abolitionist’s Allegany County ties.

Douglass first came to Cumberland in September 1879 and then Frostburg in 1882. Douglass’ Cumberland visit, Muller said, was made as part of a statewide electoral push by the Republican Party ahead of the 1880 midterm elections. Douglass also visited Hagerstown and Frederick in the spring of 1879.

“While Douglass is historically associated with the Eastern Shore, Baltimore and Washington, the series of visits Frederick Douglass made to Appalachian Maryland and the region, we contend, must be properly recognized and included for a more complete narrative of Douglass than what is promoted, marketed and taught within the state,” Muller said. “The visits of Douglass to Allegany County were not isolated jaunts, and are not now-obscure pieces of Douglassonian trivia, but important illustrative examples of the political and community activism Douglass sustained following the Civil War throughout Maryland.”

Part of Douglass’ message during these trips, Muller said, was to convince Black residents to remain in the communities they lived rather than moving as many were at the time. During these visits, Muller said, Douglass was frequently accompanied by “prominent, interesting” local officials.

Among Douglass’ local connections was Lloyd Lowndes, who served as a representative for Maryland’s Sixth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as governor of Maryland. Lowndes’ and Douglass’ relationship predated Douglass’ visit to Cumberland, Muller said, and Lowndes and his family may have also dined with Douglass at his Washington home.

In 1874, Muller said, Douglass wrote a letter to the Cumberland News in support of Lowndes’ Congressional reelection campaign. He was moved to do so, said Muller, when an organization called the Fred Douglass Club of Allegany County endorsed a different candidate, James H. Montgomery.

“Mr. Douglass did not like that his name was being used to essentially support an oppositional candidate to Mr. Lowndes,” Muller said. “He felt that if the Republican Party ticket was splintered, and/or if the Black vote within the Republican Party was split, that it would ensure the defeat of Lloyd Lowndes and therefore ensure that a Democrat would would win the election.

In 1879, Douglass visited Cumberland for a “very enthusiastic” Emancipation Day celebration, during which he delivered a speech at the fairgrounds.

Media reports from the time indicated that Douglass was received, Muller said, by an animated crowd of around 2,000 people that greeted him at the former Queen City Hotel before proceeding to the fairgrounds.

Muller read from some of Douglass’ remarks at the event. Douglass reflected on how during a previous visit he was regarded and treated as dangerous, “but today, I arrived here and nobody seems afraid of me.”

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Cumberland Times-News original story *HERE*

Special thanks to Lindsay Renner-Wood for her continued coverage and reportage of Frederick Douglass in the areas of Western Maryland and the Potomac Highlands. We especially thank Lindsay for keeping alive the journalistic spirit of many of the women who Frederick Douglass worked alongside within the field of journalism and newspapering including Kate Field, Mary Clemmer Ames, Catherine Impey, Josephine Turpin Washington, “Grace Greenwood,” Emily Edson Briggs, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and others.

VIDEO: The Lost History of Frederick Douglass in Cumberland & Allegany County (February 19, 2022)

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Thank you to the Allegany County Library system for hosting and live streaming the presentation.

VIDEO: Frederick Douglass and the Black Press in DC | #DouglassWeek 2022

VIDEO: The Lost History of Frederick Douglass and Sports in 19th Century America | #DouglassWeek 2022

virtual presentation -> “The Lost History of Frederick Douglass & Sports in 19th Century America” -> February 10, 2022 @ 6PM EST

This presentation has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and is protected under the full force and reach of the United States Constitution.

As part of Douglass Week 2022 learn about the lost history of Frederick Douglass and sports in 19th Century America from the groundbreaking Douglassonian historian team of John Muller and Justin McNeil of Lost History Associates.

Learn about the connections and associations of Frederick Douglass to team sports that are still played today, as well as to sports of individual competition that remain alive and well today.

Sports were a part of the Douglass family across generations with his children and grandchildren competing in team sports.

Huddle up to hear a world premier presentation on the lost history of Frederick Douglass and sports from baseball to boxing to football and more.

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Sign up HERE!

Press Release: VIRTUAL -> “The Lost History of Frederick Douglass in Salisbury and Maryland’s Lower Shore” -> Saturday, February 26, 2022 @ 1PM

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Kelly Neuharth Porter: kellynp@wicomico.org /(410) 749-3612 ext. 153  

John Muller: jmuller@ggwash.org / (202) 236-3413 

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The Lost History of Frederick Douglass in Salisbury and Maryland’s Lower Shore

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Saturday, 

February 26, 2022 

1:00 PM

*VIRTUAL on Zoom*

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The nearly exclusive association of Eastern Shoreman Frederick (Bailey) Douglass with Talbot County obscures a more complete telling and understanding of the expansive connections of Douglass with counties, towns, communities, waterways, railroads, steamboat wharfs, Black churches, cemeteries, school houses and courthouses throughout the Delmarva from the top to the bottom of the map. 

Fundamental to recognizing the impact and contributions of Frederick Douglass to the Eastern Shore is the lost history of his beneficial lecture delivered in the Wicomico County Courthouse for the benefit of the John Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church in Salisbury’s Georgetown neighborhood. Returning to the Shore less than six months after a fall visit to Centreville in Queen Anne’s County, in February 1880 United States Marshal of the District of Columbia Frederick Douglass traveled via rail from Washington City to Baltimore to Wilmington to Salisbury before arriving at the Church Street home of Salisbury’s Solomon T. Houston, a member of the board of trustees of Morgan College and the Princess Anne Academy.

Proceeds from the lecture of U.S. Marshal Douglass delivered in the present-day Wicomico County Courthouse aided in the addition of a second floor to the original John Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church built in 1838. The extant building stands today on Broad Street as the oldest structure on the Delmarva independently built and maintained by Black Americans, serving communities of Salisbury and Wicomico County as the Charles H. Chipman Cultural Center.

The Lost History of Frederick Douglass in Salisbury and Maryland’s Lower Shore will be  hosted by Wicomico Public Libraries and offered as a virtual lecture by Douglassonian scholars John Muller and Justin McNeil of Lost History Associates. The afternoon’s presentation will include maps, prints, letters, newspapers, photographs, ephemera and more to provide a visual telling of the history of Marshal Frederick Douglass in Salisbury. Q&A will follow the discussion with all questions and comments welcomed.  

*Featured Presenters*

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John Muller, author of Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C.: The Lion of Anacostia (2012) and Mark Twain in Washington, D.C.: The Adventures of a Capital Correspondent (2013), has presented widely throughout the DC-Baltimore metropolitan area at venues including the Library of Congress, Enoch Pratt Library, DC Public Library, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site and local universities. Muller is a frequent guest on Washington, D.C. radio stations and has been cited by the Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Star Democrat, Salisbury Independent and other publications for his local history research and subject matter expertise. He has been featured on C-SPAN’s BookTV and C-SPAN’s American History TV, broadcast airwaves of NBC4 (Washington), WDVM (Hagerstown) and radio stations WPFW (DC), WAMU (DC), WYPR (Baltimore), WEAA (Baltimore), Delmarva Public Radio (Eastern Shore) and West Virginia Public Broadcasting. For the past decade Muller has contributed hundreds of articles to local and national print and online news sources, including the Washington Informer. Muller has presented on the lost history of Frederick Douglass throughout the Eastern Shore in Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties.  

In September 2019 John Muller presented The Lost History of Frederick Douglass in Salisbury at the Charles H. Chipman Cultural Center in Salisbury’s historic Georgetown neighborhood. 

Justin McNeil, an IT professional who has serviced government agencies, nonprofits, corporations, financial and banking institutions and small-businesses within the DC-Baltimore metropolitan area, Western Maryland and Potomac Highlands for the last decade, is a doting husband and father of 3, ADOS historian, essayist and playwright. McNeil has been featured in the pages of the Washington Post, contributed columns to the Washington Informer and been interviewed on the television and radio airwaves of News Channel 8 (Washington, D.C.), WBAL (Baltimore), WPFW (Washington, D.C), WEAA (Baltimore) and ABC 47 (Maryland’s Eastern Shore). McNeil attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Muller and McNeil are co-founders of Lost History Associates and working on forthcoming publications on Frederick Douglass in several specific regions of the Mid-Atlantic area, including the lost history of Douglass throughout Maryland’s Eastern Shore from Cecil County to Somerset County. 

For more information on Lost History Associates, visit: www.losthistoryusa.com

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The Lost History of Frederick Douglass in Salisbury and Maryland’s Lower Shore will be held virtually over Zoom. 

Please register in advance using the link: https://tinyurl.com/FDinSalisburyWPL

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For more information about the Wicomico Public Libraries and upcoming programming visit www.wicomicolibraries.org/

Phone: (410) 749-3612

 Twitter: @wicolibrary Facebook: www.facebook.com/wicomicopubliclibrary/

Press Release: “The Lost History of Frederick Douglass in Cumberland and Allegany County, Maryland” -> Saturday, February 19, 2022 @ 1PM

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Alison Cline: acline@alleganycountylibrary.info /(301) 777-1200 ext. 1009 

John Muller: jmuller@ggwash.org / (202) 236-3413 

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The Lost History of Frederick Douglass in Cumberland and Allegany County, Maryland

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Saturday, 

February 19, 2022 

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

South Cumberland Branch Library 100 Seymour Street 

Cumberland, Maryland 21502

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Internationally known, in life and afterlife, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean as an author, orator, abolitionist, suffragist and reformist, the history and placement of Frederick Douglass in Maryland’s Western Panhandle has long been unrecognized and overlooked by his more well-known associations with Baltimore City. Maryland’s Eastern Shore and Washington, D.C.

Following the Civil War, Frederick Douglass was a frequent presence in communities throughout Maryland’s Western Panhandle speaking in present-day courthouses, walking familiar public streets and speaking to benefit historic Black churches that remain active congregations today. On two separate occasions Douglass visited Allegany County, speaking in Cumberland in the late 1870s and Frostburg in the early 1880s. 

Attend a groundbreaking local history lecture in person, or watch live online, to learn about the history of Frederick Douglass as a frequent traveler through Cumberland and Allegany County on the B&O Railroad, his stay at the historic Queen City Hotel, his friendship with Allegany County’s only governor Lloyd Lowndes, his relationship with J. R. Clifford, the first Black American lawyer to practice in Allegany County, his connections to students from Frostburg’s “Brownsville” community that attended Storer College in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, his relationship to ministers at Dickerson A.M.E. Church in Frostburg and Metropolitan A.M.E. (formerly Bethel A.M.E.) Church in Cumberland and involvement in local politics. 

The presentation will be offered at the South Cumberland Branch Library by Douglassonian scholars John Muller and Justin McNeil of Lost History Associates from Washington, D.C., just down yonder on the Potomac River. The Lost History of Frederick Douglass in Cumberland and Allegany County, Maryland was initially presented in April 2019 on the campus of Frostburg State University. The afternoon’s talk will include maps, prints, letters, newspapers, photographs and more to provide a visual telling of the history of Frederick Douglass in Allegany County. Q&A will follow the discussion with all questions and comments welcomed.  

*Featured Presenters*

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John Muller, author of Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C.: The Lion of Anacostia (2012) and Mark Twain in Washington, D.C.: The Adventures of a Capital Correspondent (2013), has presented widely throughout the DC-Baltimore metropolitan area at venues including the Library of Congress, Enoch Pratt Library, DC Public Library, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site and local universities. Muller is a frequent guest on Washington, D.C. radio stations and has been cited by the Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Cumberland Times-News and other publications for his local history research and subject matter expertise. He has been featured on C-SPAN’s BookTV and C-SPAN’s American History TV, broadcast airwaves of NBC4 (Washington), WDVM (Hagerstown) and radio stations WPFW (DC), WAMU (DC), WYPR (Baltimore), WEAA (Baltimore) and Delmarva Public Radio (Eastern Shore). For the past decade Muller has contributed hundreds of articles to local and national print and online news sources, including the Washington Informer. In 2019 Muller presented on the history of Frederick Douglass throughout Western Maryland, including the Washington County Free Library and Frostburg State University. 

Justin McNeil, an IT professional who has serviced government agencies, nonprofits, corporations, financial and banking institutions and small-businesses within the DC-Baltimore metropolitan area, Western Maryland and Potomac Highlands for the last decade, is a doting husband and father of 3, ADOS historian, essayist and playwright. McNeil has been featured in the pages of the Washington Post, contributed columns to the Washington Informer and been interviewed on the television and radio airwaves of News Channel 8 (Washington, D.C.), WBAL (Baltimore), WPFW (Washington, D.C), WEAA (Baltimore) and ABC 47 (Maryland’s Eastern Shore). McNeil attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Muller and McNeil are co-founders of Lost History Associates and are at work on forthcoming publications on Frederick Douglass in several specific regions in the Mid-Atlantic area. In December 2021 they presented The Lost History of Frederick Douglass in the Mountain State at WVU Potomac State College in Keyser, West Virginia. The presentation was featured in the Cumberland Times-News and on the radio airwaves of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

For more information on Lost History Associates, visit: www.losthistoryusa.com

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Seating at the South Cumberland Branch Library will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis and can accommodate up to 40 people. Please register in advance using the link, tinyurl.com/FDinQueenCity 

The presentation will be live streamed on Allegany County Public Library’s YouTube page: tinyurl.com/FDinQueenCityStream

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The Allegany County Library System has 6 branches throughout the county and is part of the Western Maryland Regional Library that provides services and resources directly to the 18 branch public libraries of Allegany, Garrett and Washington counties. In March 2020, the Allegany County Library System joined Washington County Free Library and Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County in the Western Maryland Library Partnership. 

For more information about the Allegacy County Library System and for information on the event visit https://allegany.librarymarket.com/events/lost-history-frederick-douglass-cumberland-allegany-county

For directions and more information on the South Cumberland Branch Library, visit www.alleganycountylibrary.info/south-cumberland-library/

PHONE: (301) 724 – 1607

EMAIL: southlibrary@alleganycountylibrary.info