Frederick Douglass Memorial Park

Frederick Douglass Memorial Park was conceived during the depression years of the early '30s and founded in response to the evil custom of segregation of the dead in cemeteries based on race. The cemetery came into official existence in 1935. In 1933 Rodney Dade reduced his dream to specifics. He went to other funeral directors, ministers, and leaders in the community, and they too saw the urgent need of such a cemetery, but financing was a problem. Finally, He secured all the information he could about cemeteries and established a partnership with businessman Benjamin Diamond and Attorney Frederick Bunn. In 1933, they incorporated Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, Inc., a new park-like burial ground, quiet and peaceful, conceived in beauty, with care and maintenance endowed for all eternity, a monument to progress in human relations. Frederick Douglass Memorial Park began originally as 53 acres but dwindled to its present 17 acres by the 1960s. The cemetery historically has been plagued by poor stewardship, financial woes, and disrepair, since 2005 the cemetery has been operated by a series of court-appointed receivers. The current management, along with the non-profit organization Friends of Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, is working to re-establish financial stability, restore the grounds, and preserve the heritage of this historic African American cemetery.