Shoshi Weiss: He was 77.
Main Speaker: He was approximately 77 years old. We don't know the exact year he was born so it is hard to know the exact year that he died. But his birthdate is coming up on February 14. He always celebrated his birthday on Valentine's Day.
Crowd Member: Are you doing any programming related to his birthday? Main Speaker: Yes, we are. Yes, we are. Shoshi Weiss: Oh ya.
Main Speaker: It is the 90th anniversary of women's suffrage, a cause that was very dear to Mr. Douglas' heart. Some of the other portraits you see in the house are of Elizabeth Katie Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, two of his good friends. Those are in the house as well. Very committed to the women's rights movement so we'll be celebrating the women's rights movement.
Main Speaker: We're gonna have a wonderful actor in Fenmore South who's gonna come by and do a presentation called "Why I Became A Women's Rights Man" which is a compilation of a couple of Douglass' speeches. He's a very powerful speaker. We'll have the most recent professor to write a book about the women's rights movement will be speaking, Ms. Sally McMillen. There will be some music and some other things.
Shoshi Weiss: Children's activities. Main Speaker: Douglass was a great violinist so we always try to have a violin playing in there somewhere, as well.
Crowd Member: Are any of his children, I know he had children with his first wife. Did he have any with his second wife as well? Main Speaker: All his kids are with his first wife. They're all with his first wife. Crowd Member: And, um, did she die and then he married again?
Shoshi Weiss: Yes. Main Speaker: Yes, yes. Crowd Member: And were there five children?
Shoshi Weiss: Five children. Main Speaker: There were five kids, five kids. Four of them lived to be adults, one of them dies when she's, she's very young. Crowd Member: And does that family continue? Shoshi Weiss: Mmmhmm.
Main Speaker: They do. They do. They actually, they actually intermarry with the Booker T. Washington family, if you've heard of him. Uh, so the Booker T. Washington familly and Douglass family actually intermarry, and actually that branch of the family has now started the Douglass Family Foundation, which works very hard to combat modern day slavery. So they're still quite active as a family.
Shoshi Weiss: Yeah. Crowd Member: You mentioned, um, Frederick Douglass' stature as sort an, uh, official spokesman for the African American community. Shoshi Weiss: Uh huh.
Crowd Member: Were there collaborations or conflicts with other leaders in the community? Were there other people that wanted that chair and had, you know, a [[?]] fight? Shoshi Weiss: I mean it wasn't. He didn't have an official.
Crowd Member: I'm just kidding Shoshi Weiss: But, in terms of conflict.
Main Speaker: He's perfectly willing to come in to conflict with people who he likes. He actually conflicts with the women's rights movement during reconstruction when the amendments are being passed to end slavery and extend pand the suffrage.