Also, women, many times are known more for their famous spouse rather than what they did in their right, and b/c many men look at women as people who should be barefoot and in the kitchen, the contributions women have made are hushed or written in such a way not to give them credit...............history has seen a plethora of brave and outstanding women,,,,,,,,,,,from Joan of Arc from midevil France, to the Empress Wu Zeitan, to Helen to many outstanding people who never became famous but just did the right the right thing to raise their kids which in many cases dwarfed what the idiots in charge are doing.........many people have jobs just b/c they know someone or have fixed an election.........................it takes a tremendous amount of courage, intelligence, and wisdom, etc. to raise kids, deal with a spoiled brat husband, and hold your own job............get over yourselves men............

Abolitionist work[edit]

She was active in the women's rights movement and co-edited The Alpha, with Caroline Winslow, in Washington. In 1882, Douglass hired Helen as a clerk in the office of the Recorder of Deeds in Washington, to which he had just been assigned. Because he was writing his autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass and was often lecturing, Helen aided him frequently in his work.

Building a memorial to Frederick Douglass[edit]

Douglass' will left Cedar Hill to Helen, but it lacked the number of witnesses needed in bequests of real estate and was ruled invalid. Helen suggested to his children and their spouses that they agree to set Cedar Hill apart as a memorial to their father and deed it to a board of trustees. The children declined, insisting that the estate be sold and the money divided among all the heirs.

With borrowed money, Helen bought the property, and then devoted the rest of her life to planning and establishing the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association. Besides effecting passage of the law incorporating the association, she worked to raise funds to maintain the estate. For eight years, she lectured throughout the northeast.

During the last year of her life, Helen was ill and unable to lecture, as well as discouraged by the falling off of contributions for her cause. She begged the Rev. Francis Grimke not to let her work fall by the wayside in her absence. He suggested that if the mortgage on Cedar Hill should not be paid off in her lifetime, money from the sale of the property should go to two college scholarships in her and Frederick's names. She agreed, on the condition that the scholarships be in Douglass' name only.

After her death, the $5,500 mortgage was reduced to $4,000, and the National Association of Colored Women, led by Mary B. Talbert of Buffalo, New York, raised funds to buy Cedar Hill. Administered by theNational Park Service, the Frederick Douglass Memorial Home conducts tours to inform visitors of Douglass' contributions to freedom.^[2]

Personal life[edit]

Pitts, seated, with Frederick Douglass. The standing woman is her sister, Eva Pitts.

Marriage to Frederick Douglass[edit]

“	Love came to me, and I was not afraid to marry the man I loved because of his color.	”
—Helen Pitts