Washington Post newsboys play Douglass baseball club (1889)

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Evening Star, August 19, 1889. p. 8.

May 2023 Walking Tours & Promo Code! 20% OFF

We’re hosting walking tours throughout the DC – Baltimore area in May, and we’d love to see you again. As a measure of our appreciation for your support use promo code twentyoff to get 20% off the next walking tour for you and your group!

All walking tours are family-friendly and appropriate for school age children; group and private tour options available!

Register soon because space can become limited.

We hope you’re able to join us! Thank you for your continued support uplifting and recognizing the importance of local history.

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Frederick (Bailey) Douglass in Fell’s Point 

Saturday, May 6, 2023 / Sunday, May 14, 2023 – all tours start 9:00 AM

Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park 

1417 Thames Street

Baltimore, MD 21231

Street & Public parking available 

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Frederick Douglass in Old Anacostia 

Sunday, May 21, 2023 – 9:30 AM

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site 

1411 W Street SE 

Washington, D.C. 20001

Metro: Anacostia Station (Green); neighborhood parking; FDNHS parking lot may not be available.

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Frederick (Bailey) Douglass in Old Annapolis 

Saturday, May 13, 2023; 10:00 AM 

Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial; Annapolis City Dock

198 Compromise Street

Annapolis, MD 21401

Street & Public parking available  

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Lost History Hike of Harpers Ferry & Frederick Douglass 

Saturday, May 27, 2023; 9:00 AM

Appalachian Trail Conservancy 

799 Washington Street

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 25425 

Street & Public parking available 

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Lost History of Frederick Douglass & Frederick City 

Saturday, May 27, 2023; 1:00 PM 

Roger B. Taney House 

121 S. Bentz Street

Frederick, Maryland 21701  

Street & Public parking available 

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Frederick Douglass in Capitol Hill 

Saturday, May 20, 2023; 9:30 AM 

Court of Neptune Fountain; Jefferson Building – Library of Congress

101 Independence Ave SE

Washington, DC 20543

Metro: Union Station (Red Line); Capitol South (Orange, Blue, Silver Line)

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Private and group tours available. 

For more information on full schedule of walking tours -> tinyurl.com/LostHistoryTours

(202) 236-3413 / losthistoryusa@gmail.com

Frederick Douglass among distinguished supporters of Will Marion Cook’s plan to produce “display of negro opera” at World’s Fair

Will Marion Cook (b. 1869 Washington, D.C. – d. 1944 New York City)

Biographers and historians of Frederick Douglass have largely overlooked the implications of his magnanimous and philanthropic support of various historical Black artists, artisans and artistic groups, organizations and endeavors throughout his storied public career and more especially during the last quarter-century of his life while residing in Washington City.

A practicing Shakespearean with a community theatre troupe and regular attendant of musical recitals and theatrical performances, Douglass also offered his public endorsement of many artists and artistic groups with letters of support.

After receiving a classical education in Europe, native Washingtonian Will Marion Cook planned to produce an operatic presentation at the 1893 Columbia Exposition.

In 1892, in his early 20s, Cook put together a production plan and collected endorsement letters from prominent Black Washingtonians and government officials, including former Minister to Haiti and Virginia Congressman John Mercer Langston, former US Senator and US Treasury official Blanche K. Bruce and Frederick Douglass. Cook’s plan was also supported by Howard University President Rev. Jeremiah Rankin and Chicago Musical College‘s President Dr. Florenz Ziegfeld.

This small footnote is part of a larger and consequential portfolio of the support of Frederick Douglass for the largely yet unheralded 19th century Black Arts Movement.

Courtesy of Divided City Poets Society.

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John McWhorter, City Journal, “The Ghost in your iPod” (2008)

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“Poetry and jazz bring history alive at local Frederick Douglass event” (Streetcar Suburbs News; BY JESSICA ARENDS. March 2023)

The soft and steady jazz music of the Emory Diggs Band warmed up the stage at the Hyattsville Busboys and Poets while UMD students mingled in the back munching on free nachos.

Award-winning local poet Joel Dias-Porter opened with Robert Hayden’s 1961 poem “Frederick Douglass,” which drew the crowd to their seats. The audience listened quietly and reverently to Dias-Porter, his gospel-like cadence punctuated by the pop-pop of the conga drum: “This man  / shall be remembered. Oh, not with statues’ rhetoric, / not with legends and poems and wreaths of bronze alone, / but with the lives grown out of his life, the lives  / fleshing his dream of the beautiful, needful thing.” 

Dias-Porter also read original poems inspired by American poet Wallace Stephens, the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi, and the Beatles. His words, strong and urgent, wove themes of freedom, reconciliation, love and hope. The Black oratorical and radical tradition of Frederick Douglass as an abolitionist inspired both poets and activists, including Martin Luther King Jr., according to Dias-Porter.

 John  Muller, author of Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C.: The Lion of Anacostia and associate librarian at D.C.’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, shared lesser-known facts about Douglass. Douglass spent the last quarter of his life traveling throughout Maryland, including a stop in Bladensburg in 1880, to give speeches on social reform and abolition, said Muller. And Douglass played the violin, spoke at local orphanages and served on Howard University’s board of directors — all despite never receiving any formal education.

“Douglass was very skilled in what we would today call code-switching or emotional intelligence,” Muller said. “He could hang with peasants and presidents alike.” 

Muller emphasized that one of the reasons February is Black History Month is because Douglass’ birthday is in February.  

Brian Gilmore, senior lecturer of the UMD MLaw Programs, coordinates the Law, Art and Activism event series and served as the emcee for the evening.  

Prof. Brian Gilmore,  senior lecturer of the UMD MLaw Program, on the microphone. Photo by LHA.

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“Maryland did not secede from the union, but did have slavery — we have a very complex history,” said Gilmore.

“Our politics right now are pretty precarious,” Gilmore said. “We are in a daily battle for democratic ideals. Art reminds us of who we are — our humanity towards one another.” 

Chalto Watkins, a first year UMD student from Frederick, attended the event with several other students. “I loved hearing the poetry,” she said. “We don’t realize how close we are to history. This helps us take the time to appreciate it.” 

When asked how such events relate to her Justice and Legal Thought coursework, Watkins said, “It shows how poetry and music influence society and contribute to social justice — how poetry can really move people.” 

Prior topics addressed by the Law, Art and Activism series have included immigration, refugees and women’s suffrage, according to Gilmore. 

Keep checking the Hyattsville Busboys and Poets website or the online UMDMLaw events calendar for the April event.

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article from Streetcar Suburbs News link -> *HERE*

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Editor’s Note:

This article covers an event that occurred in early February 2023. Special thanks to Prof. Brian Gilmore, DJ Renegade, Sidney “DC Super Sid” Thomas, Dr. Robert Koulish, Director of the University of Maryland MLaw Programs and all the Douglassonians who attended.