Showing the top of a walking stick. It is gold with fruit on the side and text on the top.
Museum News

Now On Display: Frederick Douglass Walking Stick

 

Showing the top of a walking stick. It is gold with fruit on the side and text on the top.

Did you know? In 2020 the South Carolina State Museum acquired a historically significant addition to our collection: a walking stick that once belonged to abolitionist, Frederick Douglass. The stick was gifted to him while visiting Charleston, S.C. in March 1888. The Douglass Walking stick is one of a kind and is now on display at the museum.

“This walking stick is not only a notable object of national history, gifted to the preeminent abolitionist, writer, and lecturer Frederick Douglass, it is a significant and meaningful piece of South Carolina history,” said JoAnn Zeise, cultural history curator of the State Museum. “Adding this one-of-a-kind piece to our collection will help us continue to tell the wonderful stories of South Carolina for years to come.”

In early 1888, Douglass embarked on a speaking tour of South Carolina and Georgia, a journey not without peril. In early March 1888, Douglass arrived in Charleston, South Carolina where he delivered versions of his "Self-Made Men" and "European Travels" addresses at Mount Zion church, founded in 1883 and considered a "daughter church" of Mother Emanuel AME, the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church.

He was honored afterward by an African American militia unit calling themselves the Douglass Light Infantry. Most of the men in the militia company would have been formerly enslaved men and named themselves in honor of Douglass. According to a newspaper account, the infantry members serenaded him at their armory. They also presented him with a walking stick, with a gold cap engraved "Hon. F. Douglass / From D.L.I. / Charleston, S.C. / Mar. 6th / 1888” and is decorated with while strawberries which symbolized righteousness and spiritual merit.

Frederick Douglass was the most famous African American abolitionist and orator of the 19th century. During the last decade of his life, he traveled frequently to give speeches across the country. In early 1888, Douglass embarked on a speaking tour of South Carolina and Georgia, a journey not without peril.

 

Hi I'm Joanne Zeiss, cultural history curator at the South Carolina State Museum, and I have one of our most recent and exciting acquisitions here at the Museum. And this is a walking stick that was gifted to the world famous abolitionist writer and lecturer Frederick Douglass who I'm sure a lot of you guys are familiar with and this is not just an awesome piece of American history right here but this is also a great piece of South Carolina history because it was gifted to him by the Douglass Light Infantry who were an African American militia unit down in Charleston who named themselves in his honor and when he came and his speaking tour stopped in Charleston in March of 1888 they actually paraded for him celebrated him and gifted him this cane which is actually engraved with the date and his name and the DLI for Douglass Light Infantry so this is going to go in our reconstruction exhibit because that is when the Douglass Light Infantry started we know they were at least around in 1876 during a big 4th of July celebration Charleston were allowed at least until the 1890s so we have more to find out about them but this will be on display really soon and we're super excited about if you have any questions about it contact the museum.