Former Slave, Brilliant Orator, Abolitionist Frederick Douglass Signs Indenture

4 pp, 8 1/2 x 14, indenture, part-print, part manuscript signed by former slave FREDERICK DOUGLASS as recorder of deeds, October 16, 1884, District of Columbia.  The document secures an agreement between Wilbur F. Nash of Washington, DC and William R. Woodward and Wm Redin Woodward as well as others. Nicely and boldly signed by Douglass on the verso, typical of this type of document.  Also boldly signed by Nash and Joseph S. Rider, justice of the peace.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS was a slave who escaped and became a notable abolitionist, orator, writer and statesman.  He was described by abolitionists as a living counter-example to slaveholders’ arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. He wrote several autobiographies, which served to aid the cause of abolitionism. He also actively supported women’s suffrage. Without his approval, Douglass became the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States as the running mate of Victoria Woodhull on the Equal Rights Party ticket.  Douglass believed in the equal rights of all people.

Expected toning, normal folds. Some light edge chipping. A couple of edge tears reinforced with archival tape.

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