Document Signed as a Land Deed. Dated "January 23, 1886, and signed by Frederick Douglas as "FredK Douglas". PSA/DNA Slabbed and graded NM-MT 8. In fine condition with a strong vibrant signature. Land Deed size, 3.5" x 8.5" (by sight), slabbed to a size of 5.5" x 12.5". Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was born a slave in Maryland. At the age of twenty, he escaped to New York masquerading as a sailor, and later relocated to the thriving free black community of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Douglass’s early education and natural eloquence enabled him to easily express his ideas about slavery, suffrage, and civil rights in both expository and oral form. Encouraged by seminal abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879), Douglas wrote two autobiographies and gave lectures. After the publication of his first work, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave," the best-selling author was the most well-known free black man in America. Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson asked Douglass for advice regarding black soldiers and voters. By the late 1870s, Douglass had accepted several political positions, serving as President of the Freedman’s Savings Bank, charge d’affaires to the Dominican Republic, United States Marshal, and Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia. (President James Garfield had appointed Douglass as Recorder of Land Deeds in the District of Columbia on May 17, 1881, after the U.S. Senate approved the posting 47-8).