Eliot, William Greenleaf, 1811-1887 to Charles Sumner
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC07202.06 Author/Creator: Eliot, William Greenleaf, 1811-1887 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph note signed Date: circa 1872 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 20.4 cm, Width: 12.7 cm Order a Copy
Eliot, a social activist and clergyman, writes to Sumner, a United States Senator from Massachusetts (recipient inferred from collection). Encloses newspaper clippings asserting they prove the necessity of a civil rights bill. The first clipping, attached to the note, relates that Frederick Douglass was recently denied service at the Planters' House, a St. Louis, Missouri inn. The article notes, "This is the first difficulty of the kind he has received on his present lecture trip, and it is a shameful reflection on St. Louis' hospitality..." The other clipping offers a similar version of the story, suggesting that Douglass should have been given a private room, "where he could have taken his meals, if prejudice did not prevent him to enter the public dining room."
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