Built between 1855 and 1859, Frederick Douglass purchased this suburban Anacostia estate (Cedar Hill) in 1877. The African American abolitionist, publisher, orator, author, statesman, and champion of human rights lived in the home until his death in…

Initially incorporated under the name Union Town, Anacostia began as a working-class community removed from the city and dominated by Navy Yard employees. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Union Land Association controlled the…