This site is under development
The activism and purpose of Frederick Douglass is beautifully captured by the statue, artistry and landscaping of the Frederick Douglass Square in front of Hornbake Library at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). I want to know more about how it came to be here, who was involved in putting it here and more about Douglass, himself. I am especially interested in exploring the continuing relevance of Douglass's words and activism for us today. For me, the Frederick Douglass Square is sacred space.
I am a Golden ID student at UMCP. The more I know about Douglass, his life in Maryland, and the continuing importance of his words the more I want to know. I will explore and share my explorations and the resources that I find here on this digital square. I will investigate the importance of Douglass's travels in America and abroad. I want to know more about the women in his life and how he emerged from enslavement on Maryland's Eastern Shore to become, according to Dr. Ira Berlin, 'the most important Marylander who ever trode the Maryland soil.' I will investigate and share information about Dr. Berlin (now deceased) and his scholarship. He was instrumental in establishing the Frederick Douglass Square along with others at UMD who were collectively known as the North Stars in reference to the newspaper produced by Douglass. I was surprised to learn that this statue of Douglass arrived at the University only two years before I did, in 2015. Some of Douglass's descendants were at the dedication.
I am also interested in student activism at the square and in any community events that occurred in this space in the past. I am interested in supporting the use of Frederick Douglass Square as an outdoor classroom. Creative expression, performances and discussions relating to Douglass and his legacy are all appropriate, even evoked, here. Perhaps a series of readings of Douglass's speeches or other vignettes relating to his life and continuing influence can be arranged.
Neither my formal secondary education nor my family background, both rooted in a white fundamental Christian, rural southern Georgia landscape was purposed to inform me of the complete history of America, especially the history of the deep and enduring wounds of slavery. It was only as an adult, after experiences agitating in the women's and LGBT rights movements and then educating my own children, that I visited Douglass's Cedar Hill home in Washington, DC. Cedar Hill is where I was first inspired to learn more about Douglass's life. Seeing the youthful Douglass for the first time at UMD gave me vague hope and unexpected reassurance that justice and equity could be pursued here.
Douglass's likeness at UMD, at this institution of higher education in Maryland, the same state where he was forbidden to learn to read is compelling. The circumstances and timing of the establishment of Frederick Douglass Square are important for the campus community and the larger community to understand. As Kenneth B. Morris, Jr, the great, great, great grandson of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington said at the dedication of the Frederick Douglass Statue and Square, 'The fight against injustice was Frederick Douglass's fight, and it should be our fight, too.' Whether we are biological or ideological descendants of Frederick Douglass, let us continue to pursue education and agitation in the face of any injustice.
I had the opportunity to initially create a free version of this website and to seek the answers to some of my questions as a final project for an English class at UMD in archival research methods. Now with this mini-grant I look forward to exploring artifacts more thoroughly, working with an artist advisor and sharing this digital resource more broadly. Perhaps, visitors to the Square will have an enhanced and augmented experience if they bring their mobile.
I deeply appreciate this opportunity provided by The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), and University of Maryland Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy (MICA) in partnership with Black Terps Matter.
I can be contacted at tewill5@terpmail.umd.edu.