I'm a graduate of Indy's Martin University. If you know Martin's history, then you also know that it was founded by Father Boniface Hardin, a former Catholic Priest well known for his resemblance to Frederick Douglass. It was so pronounced that Father Hardin was known for doing one man shows of Douglass.
The park that bears Frederick Douglass's name in Indianapolis doesn't quite live up to the wonder that was Frederick Douglass, but it definitely is a piece of Black history in Indy. The park is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2021 and the East 25th Street park is known in Indy as having been, at one point, the only city park open to the city's Black residents.
The 43-acre park has an organization, Friends of Douglass, which continues to promote its history and hope that it will become one of Indy's parks to be renovated.
The park now offers programs for people of all ages, races, and backgrounds. Through community partnerships, it has free programs for adults and children. The land for the park was donated by the family of Edward Claypool, owner of the Claypool Hotel. It's easily accessible from the Monon Trail and offers a playground, tennis courts, picnic facilities, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, football fields, and paved fitness trails.
During the summer months, the aquatic center is a popular neighborhood gathering spot. The family center has meeting rooms, a basketball court, and ping pong tables. The park even hosts a "Senior Program" for adults over the age of 50.
Douglass Park came to be largely because of the efforts of Indianapolis Recorder reporter Marcus Stewart to encourage the city to open a park for the city's Black residents as it was well known they would get chased out of parks like Garfield, Brookside, and others.
In 1928, the north side of the park hosted Douglass Park Golf Course - the first golf course in the country to be named after an African-American. In the 1960's, future basketball legends like George McGinnis, Mel Daniels, and Oscar Robertson could be found playing on the basketball courts.
In addition to honoring Douglass, the park has a mural of Frank Beckwith. Beckwith an attorney and judge who worked to integrate Indianapolis. Beckwith was largely responsible for getting the IHSAA in 1954 to allow Black high schools to participate in the state basketball tournament. He was also largely responsible for getting Marion County General Hospital (which became Wishard and now Eskenazi) to hire Blacks. If you've read my book, then you know about my experience with a Black nurse at General Hospital in 1965. It's amazing to think that was actually a new thing back then. Beckwith was also married to the first Black woman to be an attorney in Indy - Mahala Dickerson.
Douglass Park shows its wear and tear these days, though it remains an important part of Indy and a treasured part of the move toward integration. It's modestly accessible, though certainly not completely. Regardless, it's a wonderful part of our city's history and I hope that eventually it gets the renovation it deserves. read more