I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2989 
To establish the Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commission. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 21, 2017 
Ms. NORTON (for herself and Mr. HARRIS) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To establish the Frederick Douglass Bicentennial 
Commission. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Frederick Douglass 
Bicentennial Commission Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of 
Maryland in 1818 and given the name Frederick 
Augustus Washington Bailey after his mother Har-
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riet Bailey, Frederick Douglass has been called the 
father of the civil rights movement. 
(2) Douglass rose through determination, bril-
liance, and eloquence to shape the American Nation. 
He was an abolitionist, human rights and women’s 
rights activist, orator, author, journalist, publisher, 
and social reformer. 
(3) Taught basic reading skills by his mistress 
until she was forced to stop, Douglass continued to 
teach himself to read and write and taught other 
slaves to read despite risks including death. 
(4) During the course of his remarkable life 
Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery, became 
internationally renowned for his eloquence in the 
cause of liberty, and went on to serve the national 
government in several official capacities. 
(5) Forced to leave the country to avoid arrest 
as an escaped slave, he returned to become a 
staunch advocate of the Union cause and helped re-
cruit African-American troops for the Union Army, 
including two of his sons, Charles and Lewis Doug-
lass. His personal relationship with Abraham Lin-
coln helped persuade the President to make emanci-
pation a cause of the Civil War. 
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(6) With the abolition of slavery at the close of 
the Civil War, Douglass then turned his attention to 
the full integration of African-Americans into the 
political and economic life of the United States. 
Committed to freedom, Douglass dedicated his life 
to achieving justice for all Americans, in particular 
African-Americans, women, and minority groups. He 
envisioned America as an inclusive Nation strength-
ened by diversity and free of discrimination. 
(7) Douglass served as an advisor to Presi-
dents. Abraham Lincoln referred to him as the most 
meritorious man of the nineteenth century. Douglass 
was appointed to several offices. He served as the 
United States Marshal of the District of Columbia 
under Rutherford B. Hayes’ administration; Presi-
dent James Garfield appointed Douglass the District 
of Columbia Recorder of Deeds. In 1889, President 
Benjamin Harrison appointed Frederick Douglass to 
be the United States minister to Haiti. He was also 
appointed by President Grant to serve as Assistant 
Secretary of the Commission of Inquiry to Santo 
Domingo. 
(8) Douglass lived in the District of Columbia 
for 23 of his 57 years as a free man, and in recogni-
tion of his leadership and continuous fight for jus-
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tice and freedom, his home, Cedar Hill, was estab-
lished as a National Historic Site in Anacostia, in 
Southeast Washington, DC. 
(9) The statue of Frederick Douglass in the 
United States Capitol is a gift from the almost 
700,000 residents of the District of Columbia. 
(10) All Americans could benefit from studying 
the life of Frederick Douglass, for Douglass dedi-
cated his own life to ensuring freedom and equality 
for future generations of Americans. This Nation 
should ensure that his tireless struggle, trans-
formative words, and inclusive vision of humanity 
continue to inspire and sustain us. 
(11) The year 2018 marks the bicentennial an-
niversary of the birth of Frederick Douglass, and a 
commission should be established to study and rec-
ommend to Congress activities that are fitting and 
proper to celebrate that anniversary in a manner 
that appropriately honors Frederick Douglass. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT. 
There is established a commission to be known as the 
Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commission (referred to 
in this Act as the ‘‘Commission’’). 
SEC. 4. DUTIES. 
The Commission shall have the following duties: 
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