Home, Sweet Home
Frederick Douglass IV of Baltimore, a descendant of the famous American abolitionist, came to D.C. on Thursday to get some good news about his great-great-grandfather’s former home. Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) pledged to get approval for $955,000 to help complete the $2 million renovation of Frederick Douglass’ historic home in Anacostia. The home (pictured above) is in dire need of a major facelift, according to a report released earlier this year from the National Parks Conservation Association. Douglass, a freed slave who later rose to prominence in the anti-slavery movement, bought the home on Cedar Hill in 1877 for $6,700.