Role of a Lifetime

Douglas insists that he was born with the name Frederick I. Douglass IV. Explaining why he has not always used IV, Douglas says there was "not a need to use it. People use different things over the years. . . . I just did not use it. I didn't use it at that point in time." Now it shapes his identity and his career.

After his mother died, he began interpreting Frederick Douglass's life for tourists in Baltimore's Fells Point area. Soon, Douglas was performing more widely. His prominence grew.

"I can tell you that Fred is everywhere," says William "Billy" H. Murphy, a prominent Baltimore lawyer and former judge, who has known Douglas for some 30 years and taken him at his word that he is a Douglass descendant.

"He's always is at the scene of anything important. He's a member of several organizations. And he has been working tirelessly for the betterment of the black community in Baltimore for many years."

Douglas was appointed to several boards, including that of the Baltimore City Historical Society. He launched in 2001 the Friends of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, to promote plans for the Smithsonian museum of that name. Museum officials say they have no knowledge of this group, says La Fleur Paysour, a museum spokesman.

He began appearing at events all over the country for Black History Month, Juneteenth, the Fourth of July and the reenactment of historic civil rights marches. His Web site shows photos of Douglas with President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley and many others. He's been a regular at events thrown by the prestigious Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, at Yale University.

Lynne Cheney met Douglas during a National Frederick Douglass Freedom Day Event in Baltimore in 2002.

"She admired his commitment to helping children learn about the past and invited him to serve on the council of the James Madison book award," says Cristina Allegretti, Cheney's spokeswoman. Asked if the vice president's wife had verified Douglas's identity or whether she was aware of questions about his claim to the Frederick Douglass lineage, Allegretti says, "We don't have any further comment."

Asked whether the White House verified his identity before Douglas came to the two receptions where the president introduced him, Emily A. Lawrimore, a spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail: "A person's heritage isn't a consideration for invitations to the White House."

The Pocono Mountains Film Festival, which produced a documentary in which Douglas appeared, gave him a humanitarian award this month for his service to children.

Larry Sabato at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia hosted Douglas twice, in 2002 and 2006, where he spoke to youth leadership groups. Douglas was paid $3,500 and $4,500 per event, says Ken Strupe, Sabato's chief of staff.

"I'm like anybody else. I take people at face value," Sabato says. "If somebody comes up to me and says they're the great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass, I'm inclined to believe them. Plus, he was very good. I really think that ought to be emphasized. He was very good. . . . The power and the emotion of his delivery: I was very moved by it."