Library Company of Philadelphia
Frederick Douglass was the most photographed American of the 19th Century. In addition to photographic portraits, his likeness appears in print processes large and small, from broadsides and political cartoons, to frontispieces and ephemera. Here is a sampling of some of our favorite Douglass portraits from our collection.
This large chromolithograph, titled “Heroes of the Colored Race”, was printed in 1881 by Joseph Hoover of Philadelphia to commemorate men prominent in and representative of the advancement of African American civil rights. Ex-Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce of Mississippi, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and ex-Senator Hiram Revels of Mississippi are featured central, with corner portraits of African American legislators John R. Lynch of Mississippi, Joseph H. Rainey of Massachusetts, Roberts Smalls of South Carolina, and Charles E. Nash of Louisiana. Portraits of John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, William T. Sherman, and Ulysses S. Grant are also featured. The image also presents four scenes representing important phases in pre- and post-Civil War African American life, from slavery to education.