Memorial Object

Plaque/Marker

Anti-Civil Rights

Enslaver

Douglas, Stephen A.

Stone Memorializing Stephen A. Douglas

The “Walk of Fame” was created in 1929 by then president Hamilton Holt to honor significant historical figures. The memorial is located in the center of campus around Mills Lawn.

Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861) was a politician and a senator from Illinois who competed against Lincoln in the Lincoln-Douglas debates. He was the Democratic nominee, and he lost to Lincoln.

Douglas supported popular sovereignty, which was the idea that states should decide the legality of slavery within their borders. This idea was unpopular with both pro- and anti-slavery forces.

While trying to tread a middle ground on the question of slavery with popular sovereignty, In 1858, in a speech delivered in Springfield, Illinois, he stated that African Americans were one of the "inferior races" (146). He thought that "The Declaration of Independence only included the white people of the United States" (148) and categorically asserted that, "I am not in favor of negro citizenship. I do not believe that a negro is a citizen or ought to be a citizen" (142).

Additionally, Douglas received 1/3 profits for managing a cotton plantation with over 100 slaves that his wife inherited, and when she passed he continued to receive income from the plantation. However, he continued to deny that he ever owned slaves.

His stone on the “Walk of Fame” was placed after 1929.

Holt, Hamilton

1ft x 2ft

Stephen A. Douglas Brandon, VT

Holt, Hamilton

July 1941

1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism

Walk of Fame

Rollins College; Winter Park, Florida

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q433174

Stephen Douglas and Citizenship

Douglas and slave ownership

Douglas biography

Springfield speech