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Letter from Frederick Douglass to Anne Tyson Kirk, with later annotations by Lucy Tyson Fitzhugh

Description

Handwritten letter in which Frederick Douglass thanks Anne Tyson Kirk for providing him with the sketch of the life of astronomer and fellow Maryland native Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), which was composed by her mother Martha Ellicott Tyson (1795-1873). He also thinks that a proposed published biography on Banneker based on Tyson's writings would sell well among "my newly emancipated people," who are in need of "such examples of mental industry and success as I believe the life of Bannecker [sic] furnishes."

This letter also includes annotations by Kirk's sister, Lucy Tyson Fitzhugh (1833-1910), written in 1910 that provide context in regards to the eventual publication of this biography as well as the fact that the family is in possession of Benjamin Banneker's astronomical journal. On Banneker's instruction, his astronomical journal and some other loose manuscripts were removed upon his death and left to his friend George Ellicott (1760-1832), the father of Martha Ellicott Tyson. This journal is now in the collections of the Maryland Center for History and Culture.

Date

1878-03-04

Language(s)

Collection Number

MS 2700

Extent

1 page, two sides

Resource ID

21678

Notes

The Benjamin Banneker biography discussed in this letter was eventually published in 1884 by the Friends' Book Association and is entitled "Banneker, the Afric-American Astronomer: From the posthumous papers of Martha E. Tyson and edited by her daughter, Anne T. Kirk."

Digital Publisher

Digital resource provided by the Maryland Center for History and Culture

Rights

The Maryland Center for History and Culture believes this work to be in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States and it therefore may be used, reproduced and distributed without permission. As MCHC is responsible for the digitized version of this work, MCHC requests attribution for material obtained from this website, citing our name and the resource ID.

Rights URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/