Think of February 14 and you think of chocolates, flowers and hearts; but is was also the date Frederick Douglass selected to celebrate his birth and it is one reason why we celebrate Black History Month in February. The coincidence that the birthdays of Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln, two men who played important roles in the emancipation of four million people from enslavement, fell into the same week defined Negro History Week for Carter G. Woodson. It’s fairly well-known that Black History month grew from Woodson’s observance established in 1926. The story less frequently told is that how Woodson’s Negro History Week may have been an expansion of Douglass Day, established in 1897.

After the Civil War, Frederick Douglass, the “Sage of Anacostia,” made Washington his home, buying land and building Cedar Hill beginning in 1877. When Douglass died in 1895 he was a national figure, but he was also very much a part of the African American community within Washington.

As Douglass’ funeral was being prepared, local people wrote to the Washington Evening Star with suggestions as to how to memorialize him. Mrs. M. F. Otey recommended that Black children in the District’s segregated schools wear a badge of mourning; Andrew Hillyer suggested draping public buildings in mourning and holding memorials on emancipation day. A letter simply signed M., suggested that the best memorial would be to send funds to the Manassas Industrial School because Douglass had supported it. A meeting of Black teachers in Washington suggested that the Superintendent and trustees designate that Douglass Day be observed by “appropriate exercises” in the schools.

Perhaps prompted by this last suggestion, Dr. F. J. Shadd, a trustee of the African American schools in Washington, announced to the Star that the schools would be closed for the funeral: “The death of Frederick Douglass he deeply affected all of us. … As his life and character should be an inspiration to every youth of the land it is hoped that in the near future there will be a Douglass day in our colored schools.”[i] Later in March, the Star reported that a meeting of Black teachers again requested that Douglass Day be designated and observed in the District schools.[ii] But it wasn’t until January 1897 that Mary Church Terrell established a regular observance of Douglas Day.[iii]

The year after Douglass’ death, 1000 people attended a public memorial service held at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church and organized by the Bethel Literary and Historical Society. The “oration of the evening,” according to The Star, was by Mary Church Terrell, who spoke on “Lessons to be derived from the life of Frederick Douglass.”

Terrell’s admiration for Douglass was both heartfelt and personal: “Frederick Douglass was undoubtedly the greatest man this country has produced” she wrote in February 1934. In 1947 she explained that “To have been well acquainted with the great man and to have been honored with his friendship I considered a priceless possession.”  Douglass befriended her in 1881 while she was a student at Oberlin College and was visiting DC. Over the years, Douglass and Terrell worked together on civil rights issues, including Terrell’s first visit to see President of the United States. Mary and her husband also enjoyed games of croquet on the lawn and Sunday teas with Douglass at Cedar Hill.[iv]

Like Douglass, Terrell was a Trustee of the Washington School Board that oversaw the schools for Black children. It was in her capacity as a board member that she proposed in January 1897 that February 14 be declared Douglass Day and that students be led in appropriate activities to remember his accomplishments. Terrell was fiercely proud of Douglass Day: “For many years Douglass Day was faithfully observed in our public schools. If I had done nothing else during the 11 years I served as a member of the Board of Education than to make it possible for our boys and girls in Washington to learn what a great man Frederick Douglass was, I should consider that my service in that capacity was well worthwhile.”[v] When a 1906 article in the Evening Star attributed the founding of Douglass Day to a group of teachers,[vi] Terrell drafted a letter she felt proved that “I and nobody else established Douglass Day.”[vii]

There were other celebrations of Douglass’ birth outside the Washington schools. There were from time to time, larger commemorations with speakers like Booker T. Washington and Susan B. Anthony. And Washington’s expanding African American social clubs established their own traditions such as the Mu-So-Lit Clubs’ annual Lincoln-Douglass gala. Carter G. Woodson’s Negro History Week, however, eventually eclipsed these events, a fact even Mary Church Terrell acknowledged. Reflecting on the similarities of activities between the DC school events and the activities of Negro History Week, Terrell mused that perhaps Carter Woodson, a fellow District resident, was inspired by “my Douglass Day.”[viii]

Students at the University of Delaware revived Douglass Day in 2017 and made it a day of collective action for Black history. Each year the Douglass Day organization identifies a manuscript collection to deeply engage and make more widely accessible. This year they have partnered with the Library of Congress for a public transcribe-a-thon of Frederick Douglass’ letters held by the Library. See their website, www.Douglassday.org for more information about the transcribe-a-thon.

Perhaps you’d like to encounter Douglass in a more physical way this year for Douglass Day. Cedar Hill is a beautiful national park and house museum interpreted by the National Park Service. Cedar Hill was preserved in part due Mary Church Terrell – she founded and led the National Association for Colored Women, which was an important fundraising partner before the house became a national park. Carter G. Woodson’s home in the Shaw neighborhood is also a National Park. As for Mary Church Terrell’s home in DC, it is a National Historic Landmark, but remains boarded up, awaiting rehabilitation. More information about these homes can be found at www.nps.gov/frdo/learn/historyculture/frederickdouglass.htm.

Contributed by Cheryl-Ann Repetti
Special Projects Historian
Fairfax County Park Authority

---

[i] Washington Evening Star, February 23, 1895, p.3.
[ii] Washington Evening Star, March 6, 1895, p. 8.
[iii] Washington Evening Star, January 13, 1897, p. 5
[iv] Terrell, Mary Church. Mary Church Terrell Papers: Speeches and Writings, -1953;1934 to 1954 and undated, Reminiscences of Frederick Douglass. – 1954, 1934. Library of Congress Digital ID: https://www.loc.gov/item/mss425490462/.
[v] Terrell, Mary Church. Mary Church Terrell Papers, Remarks on Frederick Douglass, February 4, 1934, Speeches and Writings, 1866-1953; [ 1934-1954 and undated, Reminiscences of Frederick Douglass], Library of Congress, Digital ID
[vi] Washington Evening Star, February 14, 1906, p. 13.
[vii] Terrell, Mary Church. Mary Church Terrell Papers: Speeches and Writings, 1866-1953; Undated; Proof that Terrell Established Douglass Day, Speeches and Writings, 1866-1953, Library of Congress, Digital ID: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/ms009311.mss42549.0606 . Based on reports in the Star, the teachers did discuss a Douglass Day in 1895, but it was Terrell’s motion to the board in 1897 that initiated it as an annual school event.

[viii] Terrell, Mary Church. Mary Church Terrell Papers: Speeches and Writings, -1953;1934 to 1954 and undated, Reminiscences of Frederick Douglass. – 1954, 1934. Library of Congress, Digital ID: https://www.gov/item/mss425490462/.