Join Lewis Latimer House Museum online on January 23 to learn about the history and cultural significance of Frederick Douglass Memorial Park—the only extant African American Cemetery in New York City.

The Historic Frederick Douglass Memorial Park Inc., was established in 1935 in the Oakwood Heights neighborhood of Staten Island. Frederick Douglass Cemetery, envisioned during the Great Depression, was specifically designed to counter the evil practice of segregating the dead based on race and color.  The cemetery, initially a reported 50 acre bucolic landscape, was renamed Frederick Douglass Memorial Park (FDMP), is today the final resting place for over 65,000 deceased, including Negro League Baseball stars, Elias "Country Brown" Bryant and Solomon White; Jazz Singers, Mamie Smith and Rosa Henderson; several Musicians; Rabbi Wentworth Arthur Matthew, founder of the Black Hebrew Congregation; Eleanor Bumpurs, an elderly black woman with mental illness who was tragically killed in a 1984 police raid;  victims of the Attica Prison uprising, and Joanna Berry Shields, a Founder of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.  

Since its conception, Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, Inc. has been committed to providing a dignified resting place for all while preserving the legacy of  African American history. The sacred grounds honor the past by celebrating cultural traditions and serve as a beacon of education and inspiration, fostering deep connections between generations through the celebration of traditions and the elevation of untold stories.

In 2024, Frederick Douglass Memorial Park was designated a New York City Landmark, by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.

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