FREDERICK DOUGLASS MEMORIAL PARK was conceived during the depression years of the early 30's and founded as a protest against the evil custom of segregating the dead on a basis of race and color.

Rodney Dade, a leader in his community and a well-known and respected funeral director of one of the oldest undertaking establishments had long dreamed of a burial park where "my People will enjoy the dignity they deserve".

In 1934, Mr. Dade refused to be humiliated any longer. He was adamant about his dream. He wanted a modern park-like burial place, quiet and peaceful. conceived in beauty, with care and maintenance endowed for all eternity, a monument to progress in human relations. 

Here was a man with pride, seeking recognition and equality for his people and dignity even in death. He was tired of making side gate entrances into cemeteries, and being shunted aside into the least desired sections. 

He secured all the information he could about cemeteries and found that not only a largee amount of capital was needed, but that success demanded the services of one experienced in the cemetery field, a cemetarian. 

And so, twenty-six years ago, Rodney Dade reduced his dream to specifics. He went to other funeral directors, ministers and leaders in the community and they too SaW the urgent need of such a cemetery, but financing was a problem.

THE CEMETERY itself was incorporated as a non-profit membership corporation under the laws of the State of New York. 

Those were difficult days, but the Dade-Diamond-Bunn team's drive, knowledge, devotion and ideals made Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, Inc., a unique experience in human relations. 

On June 10, 1935, the burial park opened its gates for interments. Funeral directors Claudius P. Sterrett and A. J. Hylton were the first to use the park's facilities that day. Hundreds of persons showed up to inspect the beautifully landscaped area with its underground drainage and wide macadam roads. 

A Perpetual Care Fund was established in the very beginning, long before the State law required it of all the Cemeteries. 

Rodney Dade's dream became a reality. butwithout the support and cooperation furnished by the funeral directors and ministers, the efforts would have been in vain. Our history would be incomplete and futile, if we failed to note the countless contributions made by all. 

When Dade, Diamond and Bunn passed on, after full and wellspent lives, Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, Inc. was most fortunate in having associates who were well-trained for the tasks ahead to carryon in the splendid tradition established by them.

BENJAMIN DIAMOND, an administrator and sales executive who had achieved city-wide fame as a business consultant, had been Mr. Dade's friend for many years. So it was natural that Mr. Diamond would make himself available. 

Mr. Diamond, a living symbol of resourcefulness, energy and perseverance, had been among the founders of Harlem's first daily newspaper, The Daily Citizen, and had long been associated with interracial efforts to improve the community's civic and business atmosphere. 

Soon the team of Dade and Diamond was on the move and the financing of the project was accomplished through the formation of a stock corporation known as Frc-Dou Corporation. 

Benjamin Diamond had found the third important member, Frederick A. Bunn, a cemdarian. Mr. Bunn was a lawyer with thirty-seven years of experience in the cemetery field. He had developed the beautiful Ocean View Cemetery in Staten Island. 

Land was strictly limited in New York City for cemetery purposes, but fortunately, acreage was found and secured in Staten Island. 

When the land was first viewed, Rodney Dade, then and there, selected the name of our burial park and the spot where he wanted a monument to the memory of the 11 greatest man of my race, Frederick Dougless". The monument stands on that spot, at the top of a beautiful rolling hill just inside the entrance gates.

HORTENSE JONES, our President, a graduate of West Virginia State College in Business Administration, has been connected with the cemetery since its inception. Through study and the knowledge gained in association with the earlier executives, to whom she was a very able and loyal assistant, she proved competent to take the office of President in 1957 and carry on the ideals in behalf of which Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, Inc. had been established. 

Imbued with a never-ending love and admiration for the aspirations of people generally, and her people in particular, Mrs. Jones continues to plan for the future. 

Many improvements have been made. The cemetery office building has just recently been enlarged and renovated throughout and includes a caretaker's apartment; chimes have been installed; the finest and newest in cemetery equipment has been purchased and a beautification program started. 

Mrs. jones IS an active member in the Association of Cemetery Officials of the Metropolitan District of New York City and The New York State Association of Cemeteries. 

Today, more than 25,000 interments have been made. The burial park offers the same dignified service to everyone, regardless of race, creed or color.

Elisa “Country Brown” Bryant, Negro League Baseball Player

King Solomon “sol” White, Negro League Baseball Player & Manager

William Demont Evans “Happy,” Negro league Outfielder Active 1924-1934

Lillian Brown Vaudeville Singer, Dancer

Rosa Henderson, Jazz & Blues Singer & Recording Artist

Mamie Smith: 1 Million Blues records sold Okeh Records

Nannie Chole Burden, Operatic Soprano Singer & Activist

Thomas James Ladnier, Jazz Trumpeter Rival to Louis Armstrong

Charles Luckeyth “Lucky” Roberts, Pioneering Stride Pianist & Composer

James Edward Lymas, Violinist NY Philharmonic Orchestra

Anthony Lucus, Vaudeville Trooper

Jimmy Mordecai, Harlem Tap Dancer featured in St Louis Blues 1929

George Stamper, Actor/ Dancer “Plantation Days” 1931

Eddie Rector 1890-1962, Pioneering Tap Dancer. Cotton Club 1931, Rival to Bill “Bojangles” Robinson

Reverand Joseph Worrell, Dancer & Evangelist Minister

Tom Overton, Actor Green Pastures 1936

Johnny Vigal, Actor “Keep Shufflin” 1928

Floyd J. Calvin, Journalist. Founder Calvin News Service 1901-1939

Rodney Dade, Harlem Funeral Director. Co-Founder of Frederick Douglass Memorial Park

Benjamin Diamond, Businessman, President and Co-Founder of Frederick Douglass Memorial Park

Herbert W. Pope, Photographer, Brooklyn Cpl Henry N. Reid WWI Veteran BWI Regiment

George Felton Jr., NYPD, NYFD Fire Marshall 3 Term, President SI Branch NAACP