Douglass, Frederick C., active 1889-1897

Frederick C. Douglass was a black lawyer, minister, and teacher of New Bern, N.C. who handled the pension applications of many blacks who served in the United States Army and United States Navy during the Civil War.

An influential member of his community, Douglass was born enslaved in the 1850s. After the Civil War, he married a woman named Charlotte Bryant. They had a family including three children, but his wife died from an illness, and he remarried twice more throughout his life. In the early 1870s, he went by his stepfather’s name of Norman, but at some point, he started using the name Frederick C. Douglass. Douglass was considered a member of New Bern’s African American middle class. From 1885-1920 Douglass served as a claims’ agent for the U.S. Pension Bureau. He was among the top agents to assist African American Union widows with getting deserved pension funds.

Throughout his career he was dogged by accusations of illegal activities resulting in harassment from the U.S. Pension Office. In 1894, a criminal investigation was brought against him charging him with collecting illegal fees. Thanks to local support, he was acquitted of the crime, but his license was suspended. He further aggravated the Pension Office by continuing to do work without a license. Douglass still managed to assist at least six more Union soldiers’ widows before his death in 1928.

Douglass died in New Bern on June 12, 1928.