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The Rochester region has a rich black heritage. The name at the top of the list of African American forefathers is Frederick Douglass.
The former slave was an abolitionist,orator, and publisher, who made Rochester his home from 1847 to 1872. His final resting place is here as well, in Mt. Hope Cemetery.
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Frederick Douglas Statue
This 1899 statue of Frederick Douglass is the country’s first monument dedicated in honor of an African-American citizen.
There’s a prominent highway bridge named for him and Susan B. Anthony (shortened to the “Freddy Sue” during quick traffic reports) and a statue of the two friends near Ms. Anthony’s historic home. But beyond that we only have markers and monuments to remind us this great man walked amongst our Rochester relatives— and, more importantly, worked to change the world’s thinking from a print office on Main Street.
From a one-room office on the second floor of the Talman Building, Douglass launched The North Star on Dec. 3, 1847. This anti-slavery newspaper was named for the bright star that escaped slavery and freed slaves followed to get north of the Mason-Dixon line.
Douglass came to Rochester from Maryland in the 1840s because he saw Rochester as progressive. Though Rochester had a reputation as a reform-minded city in the 19th century, Douglass and his publication took a while to win over the public.
As he noted in his 1892 autobiography,“it was plain that many of them (Rochesterians) did not well relish my presence amongst them. This feeling, however, wore away gradually, as the people knew more of me and my works.”
Despite an initial lukewarm reception in Rochester, The North Star — which was later renamed Frederick Douglass’ Paper and then Frederick Douglass’ Monthly— went on to become one of the most popular and influential anti-slavery publications in the world.
Newspaper issues penned and published in Rochester reached thousands of readers across the United States, the West Indies,and Europe.
The Talman Building still stands today on East Main, between St. Paul and Exchange streets. A plaque noting the site’s great significance in history was affixed near the entrance in 1976.
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Talmon Building
Rochester Public Library
The grandest tribute to Douglass in Rochester can be found in Highland Park near the Highland Bowl. Many historians claim this statue of Douglass is the FIRST monument in the United States erected in honor of an African-American citizen.
It was erected in 1899 in front of the city’s train station at the corner of St. Paul Street and Central Avenue on June 8, 1899.
Ten thousand people attended the monument’s unveiling, including state Gov. Theodore Roosevelt. At the event Rochester Mayor George E. Warner, said, “It is fitting that it should stand near a great portal of our city where the thousands who enter it may see that she is willing to acknowledge to the world that her most illustrious citizen was not a white man.
Due to pollution and congestion near the station, the monument was moved to the more serene Highland Park setting in 1941.
The statue, now fittingly resides less than 300 yards from where his home once stood on South Avenue — a home that often offered assistance in the safe passage to enslaved Americans on their road to freedom.
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