Historians and archivists at Mississippi State are announcing the discovery of what they believe to be a historic treasure: a hair lock from the 19th century’s best known African American social reformer. The artifact was found among items in the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Collection, which is housed at the university’s Mitchell Memorial Library. While carefully combing through notes made by a Grant biographer more than 60 years ago, the researchers recently came upon a folder regarding abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass, an icon of Civil War-era and Reconstruction history. Also an orator, writer and statesman, Douglass (1818-95) lived during...
