Frederick Douglass Memorial Park is a historic cemetery for African Americans in the Oakwood neighborhood of Staten Island, New York.
It has burial sites for numerous prominent African Americans, including a pioneering journalist, athletes, musicians, performers, political leaders, and business people.
[1] The original 53-acre cemetery was founded in 1935 by undertaker Rodney Dade, business consultant Benjamin Diamond, and lawyer Frederick Bunn,[2] who previously built the adjoining Valhalla Burial Park.
[note 1] The Frederick Douglass Memorial Park was managed by African Americans and intended to provide an attractive option for African Americans excluded from segregated cemeteries and facing high burial costs in the vicinity of New York.
[3] In 1961, a bronze bas relief cenotaph monument to Frederick Douglass designed by Angus McDougall was added near the cemetery's entrance.