Donalds Seeks to Rename Press Gallery to Honor Frederick Douglass
WASHINGTON — Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., introduced a bipartisan resolution late Tuesday to rename the House Press Gallery in honor of Frederick Douglass, the former slave turned abolitionist leader who also covered Congress as a journalist.
Douglass worked out of the press gallery, where his portrait currently hangs, during the early 1870s with the New National Era, a weekly newspaper, for which he served as both editor and publisher.
“Frederick Douglass famously said knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom,” Donalds said in a written statement.
“He employed the transmission of information to empower our nation to uphold its solemn creed that all men were created equal and to end the horrors of slavery,” the congressman continued.
“By renaming the U.S. House of Representatives Press Gallery after him, this hallowed body will pay due respect to a man who devoted his life to bettering America through his righteous, fearless, and intrepid fight to end slavery,” Donalds added.
The resolution is being cosponsored by Reps. André Carson, D-Ind., John James, R-Mich., Burgess Owens, R-Utah and Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.
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