Helen Pitts Douglass
| Helen Pitts | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 1838 Honeoye, New York, U.S. |
| Died | 1903 (aged 64–65) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Suffragist, abolitionist |
| Spouse(s) | Frederick Douglass (m. 1884–1895) |
Helen Pitts Douglass (1838 – 1903) was an American suffragist and abolitionist, best known for being the second wife of Frederick Douglass. She also created the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association.
She was born in Honeoye, New York in 1838. A descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Alden, who sailed to America on the Mayflower, Pitts graduated from Mount Holyoke College (then called the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary) in 1859. After the U.S. Civil War, she taught at the Hampton Institute. In 1880, Helen moved to Uniontown in Washington, D.C. and lived next door to Douglass' home, Cedar Hill.
She was active in the women's rights movement and co-edited The Alpha, with Caroline Winslow, in Washington. In 1882, Douglass hired Helen as a clerk in the office of the Recorder of Deeds in Washington, to which he had just been assigned. Because he was writing his autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass and was often lecturing, Helen aided him frequently in his work.
Douglass' will left Cedar Hill to Helen, but it lacked the number of witnesses needed in bequests of real estate and was ruled invalid. Helen suggested to his children and their spouses that they agree to set Cedar Hill apart as a memorial to their father and deed it to a board of trustees. The children declined, insisting that the estate be sold and the money divided among all the heirs.
With borrowed money, Helen bought the property, and then devoted the rest of her life to planning and establishing the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association. Besides effecting passage of the law incorporating the association, she worked to raise funds to maintain the estate. For eight years, she lectured throughout the northeast.
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