‘One-of-a-kind’ item owned by abolitionist Fredrick Douglass going to SC State Museum

The South Carolina State Museum will soon be adding a walking stick once belonging to abolitionist Frederick Douglass to its collection, the museum said in a news release.

Douglass, who was “the most famous African American abolitionist and orator of the 19th century,” was gifted the walking stick in March 1888 in Charleston, while on a speaking tour of South Carolina and Georgia.

“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,” Zeise said.

It was members of the Douglass Light Infantry, an African American militia unit that named themselves after the renowned abolitionist, who presented him with the gift, according to the museum.

Most men in the militia were former slaves, the release said.

After serenading Douglass at the unit’s armory, they presented him with the walking stick, its gold cap engraved with his name, the time, the place, and the name of the militia.

Also engraved in the cap are strawberries, “which symbolized righteousness and spiritual merit,” according to the museum.

“The museum is still researching more information about the Douglass Light Infantry and hopes to find out more about the men who served in that militia unit and the special day their namesake visited them,” Zeise told McClatchy News.

Walking sticks were fairly common gifts at the time, Zeise said, often given to esteemed individuals and to commemorate significant occasions.

“(Douglass) probably received many in his career, however, one from a militia unit comprised of formerly enslaved individuals, in the birthplace of the Confederacy, and who choose to name themselves after him would probably have held a special place in his heart,” she told McClatchy.

This is the first and only item the museum has acquired belonging to Douglass, museum spokesman Jared Glover told McClatchy News.

“This is very rare in that it is one of very few objects owned by Douglass,” Glover said. “It specifically fills a gap in our collection both in objects related to black South Carolinians and objects from the Reconstruction era.”