The Parallel Lives of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass

In death, Susan B. Anthony and Fredrick Douglass share a cemetery. In life, they both lived in Rochester, NY, for many years. Susan B. Anthony’s former home now serves as a museum telling her life story. In nearby Susan B. Anthony Square Park, a bronze sculpture called Let’s Have Tea, created by local artist Pepsy Kettavong, shows Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass sipping cups of tea. Rochester’s pride in these two outstanding residents shines bright.

Susan B. Anthony Museum

The Susan B. Anthony Museum is located in the visitors’ center next door to the home she lived in for most of her life. The family moved to Rochester when she was 20. They first lived in a farmhouse that no longer exists and later moved to this home.

We entered from the back into the dining room. Our docent, Allison, showed pictures of the earlier home and how the current museum looked when Anthony lived there. Allison shared the story of a pivotal moment in young Susan’s life when her father, Daniel, taught her a valuable lesson. Susan and her sisters and brothers were attending the local school. Her favorite subject was math, and she was so excited when the teacher announced that they would learn advanced mathematics that day. But, the teacher dismissed all the girls early, saying they had no reason to stay in class, leaving young Susan extremely disappointed.

When she told her father, he removed all his children from the local school, hired his own teacher, and said, “No subject is off limits to my children. You teach them whatever they want to learn.” From that day on, Anthony learned that when you see something unfair, change it. She spent the rest of her life doing just that.

She began teaching at 15 and for about $2 a week, while male teachers earned between $10 and $15. Her activism career began when she started attending Educational Society meetings and speaking out about pay inequality.

Susan B. Anthony Meets Frederick Douglas

In the meantime, after the family moved to New York, Daniel began hosting meetings of abolitionist societies. This is where Anthony first met Frederick Douglass and his wife, Anna Marie. Again, she sees something unfair, which leads to her becoming a member of the American Anti-Slavery Society and starting to travel around as a speaker against slavery.

The museum’s parlor tells the story of the mid-1960s when Anthony realized that without the right to vote, women would always be second-class citizens. She and Douglass disagreed on supporting the 15th Amendment because it did not include women. In theory, Douglass agreed, but she felt that including women would have made the Amendment impossible.

The Amendment ultimately passed in 1870. Section 1 reads, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” However, Amendment 14 included the word “male citizen.”

Susan B. Anthony’s Arrest

Anthony was arrested in the parlor for trying to claim Section 1 gave women the right to vote. She tested it, knowing she would be arrested, but felt the publicity would make people aware of the Constitution’s unfairness. She and about 14 other women registered. In the November 1872 presidential election, she voted for Grant.

I can almost picture what happened in that room a few weeks later. There was a knock on the door on November 18th when an inexperienced deputy marshal came to issue a warrant for her arrest. After making him wait here while she goes upstairs to change clothes, he tells her she must go to the courthouse. Instead, she insists he handcuff her and treat her just as he would a man being arrested. She draws out all the publicity down to where the trial judge, Ford Hunt, informs the all-male jury that she is guilty without giving them time to deliberate. He fined her $100 plus court fees. She replied, “I’ll never pay a dollar of this unjust penalty.” And she doesn’t. It’s still marked unpaid in the court records.

Frederick Douglass Memorial

More than a beautiful tribute, the Frederick Douglass Memorial serves as a powerful reminder of his incredible life and legacy and what he did in the fight for freedom and equality. The striking memorial features an eight-foot statue created using his son as a model. First erected at the train station in 1899, the statue moved to Highland Bowl in 1941 and made its last move to Frederick Douglass Memorial Plaza in the fall of 2019. Engraved in the base are many of Douglass’s speeches. It’s surrounded by gorgeous scenery and an amphitheater.

Mount Hope Cemetery

Both Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony share a final resting place in Rochester at Mount Hope Cemetery.

Her grave is roped off with a shiny black chain hung from two short posts. Visitors often paste their “I Voted” stickers on the posts. Buried next to her sister, Mary, both of their tombstones display modest white stones engraved with just birth and death dates.

A gray granite marker engraved with Douglass’s birth and death dates sits between two large flower urns at his raised grave. His grave is flanked by his first wife, Anna Murry Douglass, his second wife, Helen Pitts Douglass, and one of his daughters, Annie.

The Frederick Douglas-Susan B. Anthony Bridge

The two civil rights heroes are memorialized in the Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Bridge over the Genesee River on I-490, which locals affectionately call the Freddie-Sue Bridge. Under another bridge, I spotted black-and-white images of Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and other Civil Rights activists. Apparently, the state required black-and-white so as not to distract drivers and cause accidents.

It might be surprising that a white woman and a Black man could be such close friends in the 1800s. But thinking about it, they both fought for the same thing: equal rights for all people.

 

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