Title
REQUEST TO OFFICIALLY NAME PARK 218
IN HONOR OF ANNA AND FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Body
To the Honorable Board of Commissioners of the Chicago Park District
I. Recommendation
It is recommended that an order be entered authorizing the General Superintendent or his designee to officially name Park 218 and all its associated features in honor of Anna and Frederick Douglass.
Proposed Park or feature: Park 218
Location: 1401 S. Sacramento Drive
Community Area: Douglas Community
Wards: 12 and 24
Proposed Name: Anna and Frederick Douglass Park
II. Explanation
The Chicago Park District naming and renaming procedures allow for the naming of features in parks, including playgrounds and buildings. The renaming of parks is addressed in the Chicago Park District Code - Chapter 7, E.3. The proposal to name Park 218 to Anna and Frederick Douglass Park has strong community support.
Proposed Name - Anna and Frederick Douglass
In 1818, Frederick Douglass was born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, of mixed race, into slavery on the eastern shore of Maryland. After Douglass taught himself to read and write, he found work at the docks in Baltimore. It was there he met a free black woman named Anna Murray. She had been born free, to parents who were former slaves. Ms. Murray worked as a laundress and a housekeeper, gaining independent financial security for herself. Her freedom provided Frederick with the courage to believe that his own dreams of freedom could become reality. She provided funds to Frederick, which he used to disguise himself as a sailor and escaped slavery. Ms. Murray shortly followed Frederick to New York, where they married and established a household. When they later settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and in an effort to hide his identity, he dropped his middle name, and they changed their last name to Douglass. Throughout their 44-year marriage, Anna provided the support system for Frederick's growing work as an orator and abolitio...
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