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Helen Pitts Douglass (1838–1903) was an American suffragist, known for being the second wife of Frederick Douglass. She also created the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association, which became the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.
Who was Helen Pitts Douglass, and how did her marriage to Frederick become akin to a national scandal? Born to an upstate New York family whose kin included Franklin D. Roosevelt and Henry David Thoreau, Helen Pitts was raised by abolitionist and reformist parents.
Jan 31, 2019 · Known For: A White woman who married the mixed-race North American 19th-century Black activist leader Frederick Douglass, Helen Pitts Douglass was an advocate in her own right and pushed for ending of the system of enslavement, suffrage, and her husband's legacy.
An activist prior to their marriage, HELEN PITTS DOUGLASS, second wife of Frederick, was widowed after his 1895 death. According to Mr. Douglass’s will, Cedar Hill – their final home – was to be inherited by Helen Pitts Douglass. An error was found in the will and it was challenged in court.
Mar 15, 2023 · While the interracial marriage between Helen Pitts of Honeoye, NY, and Frederick Douglass, pre-eminent leader of Nineteenth-Century Black America, scandalized many in the country and in Douglass’ family, Helen’s life had already shown her independent spirit and deep commitment to social progress.
Helen Pitts (1838 - 1903) was an American suffragette and the second wife of Frederick Douglass. She also created the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association. [1] Her controversial marriage to an African American man was radical at the time but also revolutionary in the scope of human affairs.
Mar 11, 2013 · Helen Pitts Douglass was one of the very first of these passionate women in preservation. As the daughter of parents who were both active in abolitionist and suffragist movements, Helen developed early on a determination to stand up for what she believed in.
Helen Pitts Douglass died in 1903 at the age of 65. She wanted to be buried on the grounds of Cedar Hill, but Washington laws prevented burials on home grounds.
Anna Douglass, Frederick's first wife died in 1882. He married Helen Pitts in 1884. They were married for 11 years, when Mr. Douglass died of a heart attack. Although Douglass left Cedar Hill to Helen, the will was ruled invalid.
Family Papers, 1859-1903 (Reel 1): Diary, speeches, writings, and miscellaneous papers of Frederick Douglass's second wife, Helen Pitts Douglass, but also includes a biographical sketch of Douglass’s wife of forty-four years, Anna Murray Douglass, written by their daughter, Rosetta Douglass Sprague.
