Douglass, Helen Pitts (1838–1903)

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Douglass, Helen Pitts (1838–1903)

American feminist. Name variations: Mrs. Frederick Douglass. Born Helen Pitts 1838 in Honeoye, NY; died 1903; dau. of Gideon Pitts Jr. (abolitionist and colleague of Frederick Douglass); graduate of Mount Holyoke Seminary; became 2nd wife of Frederick Douglass (1818–1895, freedom fighter and orator), 1884; no children.

Worked on a radical feminist publication, Alpha, in Washington DC; became secretary to the widowed-orator Frederick Douglass (his 1st wife was Anna Murray Douglass); a white woman, nearly 20 years younger than her husband, faced a storm of controversy on marriage, and her family stopped speaking to her; after his death, founded the Frederick Douglass Historical and Memorial Association (1900).

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