Frederick Douglass (c. 1847-1852)
This abolitionist escaped slavers in Maryland and went on to be an important social reformer of his era. You are looking at a daguerreotype produced by Samuel J. Miller anywhere from 1847 to 1852. This was what the Art Institute of Chicago had to say: “Northeastern Ohio was a center of abolitionism prior to the Civil War, and Douglass knew that this picture, one of an astonishing number that he commissioned or posed for, would be seen by ardent supporters of his campaign to end slavery. Douglass was an intelligent manager of his public image and likely guided Miller in projecting his intensity and sheer force of character. As a result, this portrait demonstrates that Douglass truly appeared “majestic in his wrath,” as the nineteenth-century feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton observed.”
Frederick Douglass (c. 1847 1852)