Chapter 806. To incorporate the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association
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CHAP. 806.— An Act To incorporate the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association. June 6, 1900. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Frederick Douglass Memorial, etc., Association incorporated. That Helen Douglass, William H. H. Hart. Francis J. Grimke, May Wright Sewall, Edward A. Clarke, their associates and successors, be, and they are hereby declared to be, a body politic and corporate, in the District of Columbia, with perpetual succession, by and under the name, style, and title of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association, for the following objects and purposes, to wit:
First. To preserve to posterity the memory of the life and character of the late Frederick Douglass. Second. Purposes of incorporation. To collect, collate, and preserve a historical record of the inception, progress, and culmination of the antislavery movement in the United States, and to assemble in the homestead of the late Frederick Douglass, commonly called Cedar Hill, in the village of Anacostia, in the District of Columbia, all such suitable exhibits of records or things illustrative or commemorative of the antislavery movement and history as may be donated to said association or acquired by purchase bequest, or other lawful means.
Sec. 2. Powers. That the said association, by and under the name and title aforesaid, and their successors, shall be competent at. law and in equity to take to themselves and their successors, for the use and behoof of said association, any estate whatsoever, in any messuage. lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods, chattels, moneys, and other effects, by gift, devise, grant, donation, bargain sale, conveyance, assurance, or will; and the same to grant, bargain, sell, transfer, assign, convey, assure, demise, declare to use. and farm let. and to place out on interest. for the use of said association, in such manner as to them, or a majority of them, shall be deemed most beneficial to said association; and to receive the same, their rents, issues, and profits, income, and interest, and to apply the same for the proper use and benefit of said association for the objects and purposes hereinbefore mentioned; and by the same name to sue and be sued, to implead and be impleaded in any court of law or equity in all manner of suits, actions, and proceedings whatsoever, and generally by and in the same name to do and transact all and every the business touching or concerning the premises;
Improvement of Cedar Hill.and that after the said association shall have acquired title in fee simple to a whole or a part of certain property situate and being in 663the village of Anacostia. District of Columbia, commonly called Cedar Hill, and occupied by the late Frederick Douglass as his homestead, the said association may manage, repair, improve, and adorn the same in such manner as the said incorporators or their successors, or a majority of them, may deem meet and proper, in pursuance of and in accordance with the objects and purposes for which this said association is incorporated.
Sec. 3. That the first meeting of said incorporators shall be held at First meeting of incorporatorssaid Cedar Hill. Anacostia. District of Columbia, at such time as a majority of the persons hereinabove named shall determine upon, after ten days’ notice thereof shall be given to each of said incorporators, at which said first meeting, or at such other time thereafter as the said incorporators may fix for that purpose, they may enact such by-laws as they may see tit. not inconsistent with the laws of the United States, regulating the government of the said association.
Sec. 4. That the government of said association shall be vested in a Board of trustees etc.board of trustees of not less than five members nor more than nine, who shall be elected by the corporators at their first meeting or at such time thereafter as the said corporators may at the said first meeting appoint for that purpose. In ease of a vacancy or vacancies occurring in said board of trustees by death, resignation, or otherwise, the same shall be tilled by the remaining members thereof.
Said board of trustees shall have perpetual succession, and in them and their successors shall be vested the power hereinbefore granted to this association. They shall adopt a common seal, which they may alter at pleasure, under and by which all deeds and acts of the association shall be passed and authenticated. They shall elect such officers as they may deem necessary, including a treasurer, for such terms and at such compensation as they may prescribe, in accordance with the by-laws which may be established for the government of said association.
The said treasurer shall give such bond as may be fixed by the by-laws, and all of the officers of the association, together with such agents and employees as it may be deemed necessary to employ, shall be. subject to removal for such causes and under such conditions and regulations as may be prescribed by the. by-laws. Sec. 5. That no misnomer of the said corporation shall defeat or Corporation grants unaffected by misnomers.annul any grant, donation, gift, devise, or bequest to or from said corporation.
Sec. 6. That the said corporation may cause to be erected at such Monument to Frederick Douglass.suitable site upon the homestead aforesaid, after acquisition of title to same as aforesaid, as may be selected by the board or trustees, a monument to the memory of the late Frederick Douglass, of such character and at such h cost as in their judgment may seem fit, in accordance with the means of said association and compatible with the objects and purposes thereof. Sec. 7. That when the said corporation shall have acquired title in Cedar Hill exempt from taxes.fee simple to the whole or a part, as the case may be, of the said property known as Cedar Hill, in the village of Anacostia, in the District of Columbia, and formerly occupied as the homestead of the late Frederick Douglass, said land and premises shall be, and hereby are, declared to be exempt from all taxes and assessments for taxation so long as the same shall be used for the purposes of this incorporation.
Sec. 8. That Congress reserves the right to amend or repeal this AmendmentAct. Approved, June 6, 1900.