Frederick Douglass Signed Land Grant

Frederick Douglass, one of the most prominent abolitionists and statesmen of the 19th century, later held several federal appointments after the Civil War, including U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, Recorder of Deeds for Washington, D.C., and U.S. Minister to Haiti. In his role as Recorder of Deeds (1881–1886), Douglass was responsible for officially recording property transactions, including land grants and deeds, in Washington, D.C. This position placed him at the center of the capital’s legal and property framework.

Descriptions of him signing land grants in Washington, D.C. reflect both his ceremonial and administrative duties in that office. The image of Douglass, once enslaved, overseeing the legal documentation of land ownership in the nation’s capital carried deep symbolic weight—showing the progress of Reconstruction-era America, even as racial struggles persisted. His presence at that desk embodied the transformation of the country and the expanding, though still contested, opportunities for African Americans in public life.

This document has been handsomely framed with archival methods to preserve the history & rarity of this Frederick Douglas autographed document.