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Figure 1

Citation

photographer Unknown Photographer Photographer. “Frederick Douglass.” circa 1845. Greg French Collection. Mirror of Race, 11 Feb. 2021, mirrorofrace.bc.edu/items/show/134. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

Title

Frederick Douglass

Subject

Frederick Douglass

Creator

photographer Unknown Photographer Photographer

Date

circa 1845

Type

Studio Portrait

Identifier

Figure 1

Rights Holder

Greg French Collection

Original Format

Daguerreotype, sixth plate (2.75 x 3.25 inches)

Factual Commentary

This is the earliest know portrait of the great American orator and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), taken around 1845, probably shortly after the publication of his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Douglass devoted his energies to civil and human rights, advocating the abolition of slavery, founding newspapers to support the cause, recruiting African American regiments during the Civil War to fight for the Union, and serving the government after the war as ambassador to Haiti. Douglass believed in photography as medium of persuasion and sat for his portrait often. The next two slides show him later in life.