The Spirit of Anacostia

Cedar Hill, Frederick Douglass’ home, sits high on a grassy estate in Southeast Washington, D.C. The property where Douglass lived from 1877 until the end of his life is lovingly preserved and enclosed by a wrought-iron fence. Visitors can tour the home of the eccentric abolitionist who escaped slavery and went on to become a wealthy, self-made man.
 
The Frederick Douglass National Historic Site seems almost untouched by time — but the surrounding community has changed dramatically.  Today the area is one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in the District, but Anacostia residents consider Douglass' home a beloved monument to a man whose inspiration is still felt today.  
 
"It’s the centerpiece of Anacostia,” said Ed Fleet, executive director of The Town Hall Education, Arts and Recreation Campus,  a Southeast community center. Frederick Douglass is the “spirit of Anacostia,” said Fleet. Douglass' house gives people from outside the community an excuse to visit.
 
It is important to see the beauty that is often forgotten when thinking about Anacostia, he said.  
 
Like other predominantly black areas of the city, Southeast was badly damaged in the 1968 race riots that followed Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. By the 1980s Anacostia was desperately in need of development and assistance.  Former mayor Marion Barry, who was also a former Southeast resident, did little to help the declining population and problems with drugs and violence.  
 
But as the neighborhood around it declined, locals fought to preserve Cedar Hill, said Kathryn Schneider Smith, historian and writer, in her book "Washington at Home."
 
Yavocka Young, executive director of Main Street Anacostia, a community organization,  lives near Cedar Hill on W Street. Young, 40, moved to Anacostia in 1992 and was a volunteer at the historic site.  When in the house, “I personally feel inspired to be better,” she said.