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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Douglass, Frederick (1818-1895) to Robert Adams

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04997 Author/Creator: Douglass, Frederick (1818-1895) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 4 December 1888 Pagination: 1 p. ; 19.8 x 12.5 cm. Order a Copy

He is disturbed over the "clamour raised for the disfranchisement of the colored voters of the South." Written on letterhead from Cedar Hill, Douglass's Washington, D.C. home.

Douglass was an American abolitionist, editor, orator, author, statesman, and reformer. He was born a slave, learned to read from a kind owner, and escaped slavery by going North, where he became involved in several abolitionist groups. He published several newspapers. During Reconstruction he served as president of the Freedman's Savings Bank and worked with Haiti and Santo Domingo. In Washington, D.C. , Douglass was appointed Recorder of Deeds.

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

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