Remembering the New Deal during Black History Month: Restoration & preservation at the Frederick Douglass House

Above: "Cedar Hill," the Washington, D.C. home of abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), ca. 1938. The estate is now a National Historic Site. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: This interior photo of Cedar Hill was taken around 1895, the year Douglass died. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.

Above: Workers from the WPA's Historical Records Survey are busy organizing artifacts in the Frederick Douglass House, 1938. Across the nation, the WPA preserved and organized an enormous amount of American history. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A photo of Frederick Douglass, ca. 1859, courtesy of the National Park Service.

Above: WPA worker Annie Wheeler organizes letters, manuscripts, speeches, and other material from Frederick Douglass's life, in Douglass's private study, 1938. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Frederick Douglass in his Cedar Hill study & library - date unknown, but probably between 1885 and 1895. Notice the violin. According to the National Park Service, "Douglass played the violin for his grandchildren and guests when they visited Cedar Hill. He frequently performed for his grandchildren after supper and before their bedtime." Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.

Above: About half-a-century after the previous photo was taken, this photo was taken, showing two WPA workers in Douglass's study, going over historic documents. Compare the desk, chair, book shelves, and framed images on the wall, in this photo, to the previous photo. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: An artwork showing Douglass as a young man. Image courtesy of the National Park Service.

Above: Two enrollees in the New Deal's National Youth Administration (NYA) repair the steps leading to the Frederick Douglass House, 1938. This was one of many NYA projects on the historic estate. And across the country, the NYA offered job & training opportunities to hundreds of thousands of African American men and women between the ages of 16 and 25. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Frederick Douglass's Cedar Hill home today. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.

"The American people have this lesson to learn: That where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."

--Frederick Douglass, 1886 (link to quote)