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Some D.C. residents may have been disappointed to see Duke Ellington end up on the D.C. state quarter instead of Frederick Douglass, but they'll soon be put at ease. The United States Mint has announced that the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site will be featured on a special quarter of its own, the Examiner reports. 
Photo courtesy National Park Service
Douglass's Cedar Hill estate, located at 1411 W St. SE in Anacostia, will represent the District in the Mint's new "America the Beautiful" quarter program. The design for the new quarter won't be done until 2016, with its release scheduled for 2017.
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"Some D.C. residents may have been disappointed ..."
Count me in that group.
Awesome move by the Mint. Maybe a portrait of Douglass could be worked into the design somehow.
has the treasury department given up on regular money. is everything going to be a collector's edition from this point on?
I want the name Anacostia on that coin somewhere. But I'm biased.
Duke Ellington was sweet.
Why would Frederick Douglass - a native Marylander - be on the D.C. quarter?
I can see doing Duke Ellington, but if one decides to go the musical route, why not include Chuck Brown, Ian Mackaye, or Bad Brains? All have exerted great influence on contemporary music. Also, jazz sucks.
So you think none of the guys you mentioned were influenced in ANY way by jazz. OK. Right.
The design for the new quarter won't be done until 2016, with its release scheduled for 2017.
In 2009 you can't buy a whole lot with a quarter. By 2017 it will be worth even less in real dollar values. Seems to me like it would be smarter to use this design on future $1 or $2 coins. Or perhaps even a $5 coin.
Is the U.S. Mint really thinking 8 years ahead? If so I would hope that they would be planning on removing the penny from circulation during that time.
That's ridiculous. Duke Ellington was the only one out of the three options who was a Washingtonian. And not only was he influenced by the DC culture, he influenced and shaped it back.
+1
AHEM, Ian Mackaye was born in Washington, graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School, and currently lives on Irving St. NW. If being born here doesn't make you a local, I don't know what does.
Sure, Duke Ellington influenced jazz, but he didn't create it.
The way I see it, Washington, D.C. has two native musical styles: Go-Go and hardcore punk.
Chuck Brown helped create the nascent D.C. Go-Go sound. Bad Brains was one of the first bands to fuse punk and reggae music. The early bands on Dischord records largely invented east coast hardcore punk.
You could throw Henry Rollins (another D.C. native) in the mix as well, but I don't think his influence has been as wide spread as that of Mr. Mackaye and the bands Minor Threat and Fugazi.
P.S. I was unable to ascertain where Chuck Brown was born. Anyone know?
Two of the four founding members of Bad Brains were native Washingtonians, as well.
While Douglass was not a native Washingtonian, he has deep roots and his presence can be felt all over the city including:
The FD Memorial Bridge
The FD Nat'l Historic Site
His first home on A Street (now a museum)
He was US Marshal of the District
Minister to Haiti
President of the Freedman's Bank in DC
He spent the last 17 years of his life in the city
He lobbied and visited Lincoln in the White House
The list goes on and on.
Funny. I read the headline and thought they were moving the house to Northwest, Northeast, or Southwest. After all, those are new quarters.
+2 Frederick Douglass = Marylander, as was Benjamin Banneker.
Thurgood Marshall should have been considered. Oh, wait...
This quarter is great for everybody. But for the quarter representing the city as part of the State Quarter Series, they needed a native Washingtonian representing, like Duke Ellington, John Phillip Sousa, or Al Jolson. Al Jolson... that would have gone over well. Is anybody else imagining the same commemorative image as me?
Why not a portrait of the lovely Madame Evanti (Lillian Evans-Tibbs)?
COOL!!! I love the Frederick Douglass home. I've been there 3 times this year alone.