THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY BROWN, JOHNSON, EACHUS, PAYTON, THOMAS, DeWEESE, PARKER, COHEN, KORTZ, YOUNGBLOOD, SANTARSIERO, WATERS, KIRKLAND, DRUCKER, WHEATLEY, MAHER, MILLARD, RAPP, BARRAR, QUINN, LONGIETTI, McCALL, SCAVELLO, GINGRICH, SIPTROTH, GRUCELA, BOYLE, McGEEHAN, DePASQUALE, MELIO, FRANKEL, FABRIZIO, PAYNE AND REICHLEY, MARCH 5, 2009

INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35, MARCH 5, 2009  

A RESOLUTION

Honoring Frederick Douglass for his leadership, courage,

determination and vision and for his legacy of advancing and

protecting human rights.

WHEREAS, Frederick Douglass, whose full name was Frederick

Augustus Washington Bailey, was born a slave in 1818 on Holmes

Hill Farm in Talbot County, Maryland; and

WHEREAS, Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery in 1838 and

worked tirelessly to help other slaves flee north through the

underground railroad; and

WHEREAS, A lecturer and author of one of the most important

autobiographies of the 19th century, Frederick Douglass earned

recognition for his uncompromising record as an abolitionist and

his defense of women's rights; and

WHEREAS, As a trusted advisor to President Abraham Lincoln,

Frederick Douglass urged support for the Civil War and persuaded

the President to make emancipation a principal cause; and

WHEREAS, Frederick Douglass recruited soldiers for the first

Army regiment of African-American soldiers, the 54th

Massachusetts Infantry; and

WHEREAS, In 1872 the Equal Rights Party nominated Frederick

Douglass as the first African-American candidate for vice

president; and

WHEREAS, In 1874 Frederick Douglass was named president of

the congressionally chartered Freedman's Bank; and

WHEREAS, Frederick Douglass further served our nation as

United States Marshal for the District of Columbia, United

States Minister to Haiti and Dominican diplomatic

representative; and

WHEREAS, Frederick Douglass, who died February 20, 1895,

earned wide recognition for escaping and dismantling the slave

system and envisioning full citizenship and constitutional

rights for all Americans; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives honor Frederick

Douglass for his legacy of advancing and protecting human

rights.