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.
Creator
Date
1878-03-04