1881 Frederick Douglass Signed Document

Partly printed indenture accomplished in manuscript, signed by Frederick Douglass as Recorder. Washington, D.C., 19 October 1881. 1 page on blue paper. Docketing to verso where Douglass’s signature is located.

After the fall of Reconstruction, the titan of abolitionism and civil rights was first appointed as the U.S. Marshal for D.C. (1877-1881), serving under 5 presidents. In 1881, he was appointed the Recorder of Deeds for D.C. (1881-1886), and it was in this role that he signed this document. While holding these positions, he continued his extensive speaking tours and advocacy for racial and gender equality.

The document concerns a Deed of Trust from Thomas and Ann Fisher dated 2 July 1870, to James S. Edwards and Edwin J. Sweet to William B. Todd, Jr.

A fine and bold signature of one of the most important figures of the 19th century.




[Slavery, Agriculture, Books, Ephemera, Sugar] [African Americana, African-American History, Slave, Slavery, Abolition, Liberia] [Prints, Engravings, Lithographs, Ephemera]. [Slave, Abolition, African Americana, Civil War, Prints] [African American History, Black Americana] [Abraham Lincoln, Union, Confederate, Frederick Douglass, Abolitionist, 13th Amendment, Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg, John Brown, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Barack, Obama]