Rochester’s Black community had a deep—and underrecognized—influence on Frederick Douglass
Douglass was profoundly influenced by the Rochester region. But the region’s role in shaping the abolitionist leader has not been fully appreciated, according to history professor Larry Hudson.
Frederick Douglass delivered ‘best Fourth of July speech in American history’ in Rochester
“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” Frederick Douglass delivered his rousing oration on July 5th at Rochester’s Corinthian Hall. An original printing of the speech has been digitized by Rare Books and Special Collections and can be read online.
Early Douglass daguerreotype on display
One of the earliest images of the 19th-century abolitionist is on loan at the River Campus Libraries through February. While here, the 1848 portrait will feature in a larger exhibition about the University’s work on researching and preserving daguerreotypes.
New home for a familiar face
The bust of abolitionist and leader Frederick Douglass sits in its new home on the stairway landing in the Great Hall of Rush Rhees Library. The statue is one of the oldest on campus, having been dedicated and placed in Sibley Hall on the University’s original Prince Street campus in 1879.