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Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass
Artist
Unidentified Artist
Copy after
Carl Casper Giers, 28 Apr 1828 - 24 May 1877
Sitter
Frederick Douglass, Feb 1818 - 20 Feb 1895
Date
1883
Type
Print
Medium
Wood engraving on paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 40.5 × 27.9 cm (15 15/16 × 11")
Image: 36.7 × 29.9 cm (14 7/16 × 11 3/4")
Topic
Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Mustache
Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Beard
Magazine
Illustration
Frederick Douglass: Male
Frederick Douglass: Literature\Writer
Frederick Douglass: Education and Scholarship\Educator\Lecturer
Frederick Douglass: Journalism and Media\Newspaper publisher
Frederick Douglass: Politics and Government\Diplomat\Minister
Frederick Douglass: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Abolitionist
Frederick Douglass: Society and Social Change\Enslaved person
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.72.7
Exhibition Label
Born near Easton, Maryland
At the close of the Civil War, Frederick Douglass continued to fight for the rights of blacks and women; both causes had made him the most prominent black leader of his generation. And his continued affiliation with the Republican Party of the late Abraham Lincoln won him such political appointments as delegate to Santo Domingo in 1871, marshal of the District of Columbia in 1877, recorder of deeds for the district in 1881, and minister to Haiti in 1889. A year and a half after the death of his first wife, Anna, Douglass married Helen Pitts in 1884. The marriage was controversial because Helen was white and nearly twenty years younger. Douglass countered the racial criticism by pointing out that Helen was merely the color of his father.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Exhibition
One Life: Frederick Douglass
On View
NPG, North Gallery 230a