[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 25, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E277]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 A RESOLUTION TO URGE THE PRESIDENT TO PRESENT A PRESIDENTIAL CITIZENS 
                      MEDAL TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 25, 2003

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge the 
President to present posthumously a Presidential Citizens Medal to 
Frederick Douglass, in recognition of his achievements in civil rights 
and service to the nation.
  Abolitionist, editor, orator, reformer, and civil rights activist, 
Frederick Douglass was one of the most influential African-American 
leaders of the 19th century. The fourth of seven children born to a 
field hand in Talbot County, MD, Frederick Douglass escaped slavery 
with great adversity to become a forefather in civil and women's 
rights.
  Throughout his extraordinary life, Frederick Douglass gained 
international prominence for his lecturing and autobiographical 
writings, in which he detailed the callousness of slavery. However, his 
notoriety was largely attributed to the founding of the North Star, a 
weekly newspaper that not only spoke out against slavery and 
oppression, but also served as a station on the Underground Railroad.
  Douglass' civil rights achievements were also highlighted by a 
successful political career. As a staunch Republican, Douglass served 
as an advisor to Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. He was 
appointed as Assistant Secretary of the Commission of Inquiry to Santo 
Domingo by President Ulysses S. Grant, was appointed U.S. Marshal of 
the District of Columbia by President Rutherford B. Hayes, and was 
named Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia in 1881 by 
President James L. Garfield, all of which were firsts for African 
Americans.
  My Speaker, for these achievements and many others, which are too 
numerous to name, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and 
the subsequent letter to the President urging him to posthumously 
present a President Citizens Medal in honor of Frederick Douglass.

                          ____________________