FREDERICK DOUGLASS (1818-1895). Formerly Enslaved, Abolitionist, Orator, and Statesman, who in 1881 became the First African American appointed Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia, a post he held under Presidents Garfield and Arthur until 1886.
July 13, 1881-Dated, Frederick Douglass Partially-Printed Document deed of trust that measures about 8.5 x 3.5 inches as folded, sharply Signed, "Fredk. Douglass" written in rich brown ink on wove period paper, Very Fine. This deed records that Nelson A. Ryon, unmarried, of Washington City, District of Columbia, being indebted to Mary Sanders in the sum of $2,200, evidenced by two promissory notes. The deed is signed and sealed by Nelson A. Ryon as Notary Public for the District of Columbia on . The printed docket leaf, headed, "DEED OF TRUST. FROM Nelson A. Ryon To S. H. Walker and B. R. Tracy, Trustees," records that the instrument was "Received for Record on the 15 day of July, A.D. 1881, at 12 o'clock M., and Recorded in Liber No. 978, folio 231," and most importantly contains "examined by," (Signed) "Fredk. Douglass," with the printed title "Recorder" below. A great Black History related signature that measures just over 2” long on the face of this document.

Frederick Douglass was appointed Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia by President James A. Garfield, confirmed by the Senate on May 7, 1881, and formally took the post on May 17, 1881, becoming the first African American to hold the position, an appointment he described in his autobiography as met with resistance from "the conservatives and old-time rulers" of the district. This document, recorded just two months into his tenure, falls within his examination and certification of Washington, D.C. real estate records, a routine but historically significant duty of the office; Douglass served as Recorder until his resignation in 1886. Signed examples of Douglass's work as Recorder of Deeds are held in institutional and private collections and have appeared at auction as documented artifacts of the first Black man to hold a major federal office in the nation's capital.