FREDERICK DOUGLASS He pens his signature on this deed as Recorder on August 18th of 1883! Deed Signed: "Fredk Douglass" as Recorder on docket panel, 4p integral leaf, 8½x14. District of Columbia, 1883 August 18.  Release from "John F. Akers" to "John E. Norris". In part: "This Indenture, made this Fifteenth___ day of ___August___ in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty three ___ by and between John F. Akera and Annie Akers, his wife, of the City of Washington, in the District of Columbia". In 1881, Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) was appointed the Recorder of Deeds for Washington D.C., a position he served in for five years. He is perhaps the most important civil rights leader in the history of the United States. The man born a slave taught himself how to read and write before he escaped in 1838, travelling from Maryland to Delaware to Pennsylvania, finally arriving at his final destination in New York City, New York. Douglas spent the rest of his life fighting for an end to slavery and the rights of African-Americans and women to vote. From 1847 to 1851, he published the abolitionist newspaper The North Star. He became known throughout the abolitionist North as a great orator and writer. Perhaps his best-known publication is his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845). Douglass's fight for the equality of all races and women continued well after the Civil War; women did not receive the right to vote until the 20th century, and many African-Americans were not allowed to vote until even later. His home in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington D.C. was named a National Historic Site in 1988. Normal mailing folds. Worn at folds with notches at edges of folds. Soiled and toned. Pencil notes (unknown hand). Otherwise, fine condition.