One-Man Campaign to Co-name Part of Chambers St. for Frederick Douglass by Barry Owens Jacob Morris is convinced that on Sept. 3, 1838, a 20-year-old escaped slave named Frederick Washington Bailey stepped off the gangway of a steamboat docked at the foot of Chambers Street and into history. It was there, he claims, that the former slave who would later change his name to Frederick Douglass took his first steps on free ground near what is now Battery Park City. "For Frederick Douglass that dock was the Statue of Liberty and that is what is significant and what makes this so important," Morris said. On Feb. 15 Morris received Community Board 1 approval to co-name the stretch of Chambers Street between West Street and River Terrace "Frederick Douglass Landing." Morris said through his research of routes of the Underground Railroad on New York waterways, he came across documentation that put Douglass at the landing, disguised as a sailor and newly escaped from his slave master. A letter he showed the board from the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture said he was historically correct. "This [co-naming] would be historically accurate and symbolic," Morris said. "Not only would this honor him, but it would honor New York City by highlighting its unacknowledged but critical role in the Underground Railroad." Douglass, who achieved fame as an abolitionist and orator, is thought to have made one of his first stops at 36 Lispenard Street where he was sheltered by boarding house owner David Ruggles, a key figure in the Underground Railroad in New York City. Community Board 1 members voted to approve the street co-naming request though earlier in the month it barely cleared the Battery Park City Committee of the board with a 5-4 vote. The narrow vote of the committee reflected a feeling among some members that a street sign would not sufficiently serve to honor Douglass, or explain the historical significance of the naming. "Let me ask you something," started committee member Pearl Scher. "When you walk down Madison Avenue, have you ever once thought of President Madison?" Scher, like others on the committee, suggested the spot would be better marked with a plaque or perhaps a display in the library of nearby Stuyvesant High School. "This makes no sense to me unless the history is explained," committee member Linda Belfer said of the proposal. Morris earned the approval of the full board with a promise to pursue installation of a plaque or other sign explaining the significance of the site. "This is only the beginning," said Morris. "We can do so much more."