FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO WILLIAM SYPHAX AND JOHN F. COOK

Rochester, [N.Y.] 1 July 1865.

MESSRS. WILLIAM SYPHAX¹William Syphax (1825–91) was born into slavery to Charles Syphax and Maria (Carter) Syphax. Both of his parents belonged to George Washington Parke Custis, stepgrandson and adopted son of George Washington, and owner of the large Arlington estate in Arlington County, Virginia. Custis freed Maria and her children in 1826, and when Syphax was about eleven, he was sent to Washington, D.C., to study at a private school. In 1850 he helped establish the Civil and Statistical Association, which promoted the educational, moral, and financial advancement of blacks in Washington, D.C. In 1851 he was hired as a copyist in the Department of the Interior, and he was eventually promoted to the position of chief messenger. While working for the government, he served under nine secretaries of the interior. Syphax was deeply involved in the effort to advance education for blacks and served as the president and chairman of the District of Columbia Board of Trustees of the Colored Public Schools from July 1868 to June 1871. In 1870 he helped establish the Preparatory High School for Negro Youth, the nation’s first high school founded for blacks. Washington (D.C.) , 20 May 1863; New York , 27 June 1891; Alison Stewart, (Chicago, 2013), 27–28; Lomotey, ed., , 2 vols. (Thousand Oaks, Calif., 2010), 1:235–236; E. Delorus Preston, Jr., “William Syphax, a Pioneer in Negro Education in the District of Columbia,” , 20:449, 455–57, 472, 474 (October 1935). AND JOHN F. COOK:²John Francis Cook, Jr. (1833–1910) was born in Washington, D.C. His father, John F. Cook, was a prominent African American clergyman and educator. Cook initially attended Union Seminary, which was his father’s school, and later studied at Oberlin College in Ohio. In 1855, his father died, and Cook and his brother George took over direction of Union Seminary. In 1867, Cook began his governmental career by securing a clerkship with the District of Columbia tax collector. The following year, he was elected to the Washington Board of Aldermen. Cook also served as a justice of the peace (1869–76) and collector of taxes for the District of Columbia (1874–88). Cook continued to serve on numerous social welfare, education, and cultural boards after his retirement. By 1895, Cook was considered one of the wealthiest African American men in the United States, with an estimated net worth of $200,000. John W. Cromwell, (Washington, D.C., 1914), 67–70; , 126–27; , 5:382-83.

GENTLEMEN:

Accept my best thanks for your note of the 28th June, inviting me to be present at your proposed celebration of the 4th, in Washington.³On 4 July 1865, the Colored People’s Educational Monument Association held a Fourth of July celebration in Washington, D.C. Thousands of blacks, many celebrating this holiday as free people for the first time, joined congressmen and other governmental officials on the White House grounds. John F. Cook, a member of the association’s board of directors, presided over the assembly. After the Reverend D. W. Anderson opened the event with a prayer, Cook read letters from several abolitionists, Douglass included, and then William Howard Day, John Pierpont, General Edgar Gregory, and U.S. senators Henry Wilson and Michael Hahn addressed the audience. The letter of invitation that Douglass received on 28 June 1865 from William Syphax and John F. Cook seems not to have survived. Washington (D.C.) , 6 July 1865; (Washington, D.C., 1865), 3–10, 18, 26, 33–34; Harold Holzer, Edna G. Medford and Frank J. Williams, (Baton Rouge, 2006), 39. Had note come a few days earlier, I might have been able to mingle my voice with those who shall participate in the commemoration of the birthday of freedom at the Capital. As the matter now stands, I can only send you the assurance that I shall be with you in spirit and purpose.

The one thought to be emphasized and deeply underscored on that occasion is this: The immediate, complete, and universal enfranchisement of the colored people of the whole country. This is demanded both by justice and national honor. Besides, it is the only policy which can give permanent peace and prosperity to the country. The great want of the country is to be rid of the negro question, and it can never be rid of that question until justice, right, and sound policy are complied with. I hope the able men who will speak on the occasion of your celebration will show that the prophecy of 1776 will not be fulfilled till all men in America shall stand equal before the laws.

Yours, very truly,

FRED’K DOUGLASS.

PLSr: (Washington, D.C., 1865), 5; Subject File, reel 10, frame 14, FD Papers, DLC.