Non-Photographic Images of Douglass During His Lifetime
(Part 2 of book)
First Page
Picturing the Face of a Fugitive: The 1840s
Copy of oil on canvas portrait, 26.5 x 21.5 in., held at Moorland-Spingarn (Douglass Collection, neg.#5393), labelled as circa 1840. NOTES: The reproduction has a stamp on back of Argosy Gallery, with a sale price of $250. It is the same image (different quality of reproduction) that John saw at the Capitol Hill house: here is John's photograph of that. And the frontispiece to the book An Era of Progress and Promise, 1863-1910 (Boston: The Priscilla Publishing Company, 1910) reprints a cropped version of this painting - click here for a scan of that frontispiece - which confirms that this painting is at least pre-1910. Also, a cropped copy of this painting is in a Portraits/Illustrations folder at the Boston Atheneum, and on the back is written "1817 Atlanta U." Presumably the 1817 is for Douglass's birth year. Atlanta University is now Clark Atlanta (since the merger with Clark College in 1988) and the pencil annotation could have been added pre-1988. Clark Atlanta has one of the largest collection of African American art in the country in its art museum, but does not have this painting. Is this the missing portrait that the Narrative frontispiece was based upon? His folded hands are too similar to the frontispiece to be a coincidence. Could this be Hammond's lost painting? Very likely, especially given that the details - rounded curve of the chair and tassels - are in the subsequent works too. According to The Liberator Jan. 23, 1846 (p.2): "An excellent Daguerreotype of Frederick Douglass, and another of the 'Branded Hand,' the gift of Mr. Southworth, elicited much attention; as did a kit-kat portrait of Frederick Douglass, by W. P. Brannan, a very promising young artist of Lynn, at whose studio it may be seen, and, as we understood, purchased." This article is referring to the sale of these works during the Fanueil Hall 12th annual Antislavery Bazaar organized by Maria Weston Chapman and that netted $4000 in proceeds. Originating in the UK, a kit-kat portrait was typically a half-size portrait that included the hands. (The name originated from a series of portraits which were commissioned from Godfrey Kneller for members of the Kit-Cat club in London). The consistencies between the style of this painting and a surviving work by Brannan suggest it is possible that Brannan painted this portrait. For an existing speculation about the possible Douglass painters, see this page of the book Brush with History: Paintings from the National Portrait Gallery, which is about the National Portrait Gallery painting of Douglass.
Frontispiece for Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, written by himself (Boston, Anti-Slavery Office, 1845).
NOTES: Sean Meehan, in Mediating American Autobiography, states that this is most likely engraved from a painting (p.160).
NOTES: Sean Meehan, in Mediating American Autobiography, states that this is most likely engraved from a painting (p.160).
Unidentified artist (formerly attributed to Elisha Livermore Hammond), oil on canvas, circa 1845; National Portrait Gallery.
NOTES: Long thought to be by Hammond, who Douglass met in 1844 when addressing an antislavery meeting in Northampton, Mass. But Hammond's portrait has been lost. This one by an unidentified artist is likely based on the frontispiece for the Narrative (which in turn was possibly based on Hammond's painting / the painting we have found). Further information is in "From the Pennsylvania Freeman - War, Slavery etc," Liberator, June 20 1845.
NOTES: Long thought to be by Hammond, who Douglass met in 1844 when addressing an antislavery meeting in Northampton, Mass. But Hammond's portrait has been lost. This one by an unidentified artist is likely based on the frontispiece for the Narrative (which in turn was possibly based on Hammond's painting / the painting we have found). Further information is in "From the Pennsylvania Freeman - War, Slavery etc," Liberator, June 20 1845.
Second Page
Through International Eyes: 1840s Britain
Drawn by B. Bell, with engraving by H. Adlard, frontispiece for the Dublin edition of the Narrative (Dublin: Webb and Chapman, 1845).
NOTES: Douglass disliked this image. Presumably this was the basis for the Armistead illustration. Charles Dickens wrote to W. C. Macready on March 17 1848: "To return to Frederick Douglass. There was such a hideous and abominable portrait of him in the book, that I have torn it out, fearing it might set you, by anticipation, against the narrative" (pp.262-63, Vol. 5. 1847-49.Eds. Graham Storey and K. J. Fielding). Henry Adlard was a British engraver active in London in the 19th century. He is primarily known for creating steel plates of monuments, castles and convents.
NOTES: Douglass disliked this image. Presumably this was the basis for the Armistead illustration. Charles Dickens wrote to W. C. Macready on March 17 1848: "To return to Frederick Douglass. There was such a hideous and abominable portrait of him in the book, that I have torn it out, fearing it might set you, by anticipation, against the narrative" (pp.262-63, Vol. 5. 1847-49.Eds. Graham Storey and K. J. Fielding). Henry Adlard was a British engraver active in London in the 19th century. He is primarily known for creating steel plates of monuments, castles and convents.
"Portraits from the World Temperance Convention, at Covent Garden Theatre," Illustrated London News, August 15, 1846: 109.
"Frederick Douglas, of Maryland," Illustrated London News, August 15, 1846: 109 (an illustrated article on the World Temperance Convention in London).
William Behnes (1791-1864), lithographic sheet cover for "Farewell Song of Frederick Douglass, on Quitting England for America - the Land of his Birth. Composed by Miss Julia Griffiths, the Words by T. Powis Griffiths, Esq.," 14 x 9 1/2 in, London, 1847. Copy sold by Swann Auction Galleries, March 1, 2012, sale 2271, lot 45.
NOTES: Based on the bust mentioned in Frederic May Holland, Frederick Douglass The Colored Orator (1895): "a gentleman, who had come over from one of our Southern States, was told by an Englishman, who was showing him his pictures and statues, 'I want particularly to have you look at my bust of your countryman, Mr. Douglass.' 'With the utmost pleasure,' was the reply. 'Senator Douglas is one of our most distinguished men.' But the bust was in black marble" (137-38). The marble bust was originally exhibited in the London Royal Exchange. Behnes was a British sculptor and few of his works survive. He sculpted abolitionist Thomas Clarkson. An anonymous review of this lithograph work in The New Monthly Belle observes: "This song merits praise... It is far better than amateur compositions in general; and what will make it most attractive to many, is its title-page, embellished by a fine portrait of Frederick Douglass, from a bust by Behnes. Everything that relates to this high-minded and extraordinary man is interesting.... Truly a worthier hero than many of the old Romans is here: Frederick Douglass well deserves to be celebrated in song."
NOTES: Based on the bust mentioned in Frederic May Holland, Frederick Douglass The Colored Orator (1895): "a gentleman, who had come over from one of our Southern States, was told by an Englishman, who was showing him his pictures and statues, 'I want particularly to have you look at my bust of your countryman, Mr. Douglass.' 'With the utmost pleasure,' was the reply. 'Senator Douglas is one of our most distinguished men.' But the bust was in black marble" (137-38). The marble bust was originally exhibited in the London Royal Exchange. Behnes was a British sculptor and few of his works survive. He sculpted abolitionist Thomas Clarkson. An anonymous review of this lithograph work in The New Monthly Belle observes: "This song merits praise... It is far better than amateur compositions in general; and what will make it most attractive to many, is its title-page, embellished by a fine portrait of Frederick Douglass, from a bust by Behnes. Everything that relates to this high-minded and extraordinary man is interesting.... Truly a worthier hero than many of the old Romans is here: Frederick Douglass well deserves to be celebrated in song."
Illustration in Wilson Armistead (1819-1868), A Tribute for the Negro: Being a Vindication of the Moral, Intellectual, and Religious Capabilities of the Colored Portion of Mankind; with Particular Reference to the African Race (Manchester: W. Irwin, 1848), 457.
NOTES: Armistead was a British Quaker and abolitionist. He also created A Cloud of Witnesses' Against Slavery and Oppression and Five Hundred Thousand Strokes for Freedom: A Series of Anti-Slavery Tracts.
NOTES: Armistead was a British Quaker and abolitionist. He also created A Cloud of Witnesses' Against Slavery and Oppression and Five Hundred Thousand Strokes for Freedom: A Series of Anti-Slavery Tracts.
Third Page
Illustrations of an Activist: The 1850s-1860s
George Cruikshank, illustration in The Uncle Tom's Cabin Almanack, or, Abolitionist Memento, for 1853 (London: J. Cassell, 1852), 7; captioned "Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave, on an English platform, denouncing slaveholders and their religious abettors."
"The Way in Which Fred. Douglass Fights Wise of Virginia," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 12, 1859: 382. Caption reads: "'I have always been more distinguished for running than fighting.'--Fred. Douglass' Letter to the Rochester Papers."
Winslow Homer (1836-1910), "Expulsion of Negroes and abolitionists from Tremont Temple, Boston, Massachusetts, on December 3, 1860," Harper's Weekly, December 15, 1860: 788.
NOTES: Homer created this work as a wood engraving. Harper's Weekly writes: "We publish from a sketch by a person who was present a picture of the visit that took place... on the occasion of the attempt by Garrison, Redpath, Sanborn, Douglass and other abolitionists to celebrate the anniversary of the execution of John Brown." David Tatham writes in Winslow Homer and the Pictorial Press: "Although it is possible that Homer attended this eruptive meeting on one of his trips to Boston, his signature strongly suggests that he adapted sketches made by, as the Weekly claimed, 'a person who was present.'" (101)
NOTES: Homer created this work as a wood engraving. Harper's Weekly writes: "We publish from a sketch by a person who was present a picture of the visit that took place... on the occasion of the attempt by Garrison, Redpath, Sanborn, Douglass and other abolitionists to celebrate the anniversary of the execution of John Brown." David Tatham writes in Winslow Homer and the Pictorial Press: "Although it is possible that Homer attended this eruptive meeting on one of his trips to Boston, his signature strongly suggests that he adapted sketches made by, as the Weekly claimed, 'a person who was present.'" (101)
Dayton Morgan, life-sized plaster bust, 28-1/4 x 20 in., 1868.
NOTES: Morgan was born in Vermont in 1842 and was based in Chillicothe, Ohio. This bust has a patent number on the back and the patent was registered as "Design for a bust of Frederick Douglass" on August 4, 1868. Sold by Swann in 2014.
NOTES: Morgan was born in Vermont in 1842 and was based in Chillicothe, Ohio. This bust has a patent number on the back and the patent was registered as "Design for a bust of Frederick Douglass" on August 4, 1868. Sold by Swann in 2014.
Fourth Page
Representing a Political Insider: The 1870s
James E. Taylor (1839-1901), "The Santo Domingo Commission," supplement to Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, March 11, 1871: 437. Caption: "Address by Frederick Douglass to the negro colonizers from the United States, in the city plaza of Samaná, before the alcalde. January 28th. From a sketch by James E. Taylor, our special artist accompanying the expedition."
NOTES: Taylor enlisted in the Tenth New York Infantry in 1861. He sent his battlefield drawings to Frank Leslie’s and was hired as a “special artist” when he left the army in 1863. Leslie’s published 61 of his wartime drawings. In 1883, he left Leslie’s to be a free-lance illustrator.
NOTES: Taylor enlisted in the Tenth New York Infantry in 1861. He sent his battlefield drawings to Frank Leslie’s and was hired as a “special artist” when he left the army in 1863. Leslie’s published 61 of his wartime drawings. In 1883, he left Leslie’s to be a free-lance illustrator.
Cabinet card of bust; photograph by John Howe Kent (Rochester), bust by Johnson M. Mundy of Rochester (1832-1897), 1870s, Harvard Fine Arts Library, Special Collections.
Depicts a younger Douglass than in the final, marble bust that Mundy unveiled in Rochester in 1879 (below) - without a full beard, only a goatee. It is perhaps a model he created during the process of sculpting the bust. It no longer exists except via this cabinet card.
Depicts a younger Douglass than in the final, marble bust that Mundy unveiled in Rochester in 1879 (below) - without a full beard, only a goatee. It is perhaps a model he created during the process of sculpting the bust. It no longer exists except via this cabinet card.
Johnson M. Mundy, marble bust, 1873.
NOTES: The original marble bust is held at the University of Rochester (and looks like this); this is the plaster bust made after the original marble and is held at the National Historic Site. According to Voss', Majestic in his Wrath: “In July 1872 Douglass moved from Rochester, New York, where he had lived for twenty-five years, to Washington D.C. The following fall, a group of Rochester’s citizens – wanting to mark the fact that Douglass had spent some of the most fruitful years of his public life in their midst – commissioned the local sculptor Johnson Mundy to fashion his likeness in marble. By late 1873 Mundy had completed the portrait, and six years later it was presented to the city and placed on view at the University of Rochester. This plaster likeness was made from Mundy’s original marble version and belonged to Douglass himself (71). C Hess created the plaster likeness in 1875. In Carl W. Peters: American Scene Painter from Rochester to Rockport, Richard H Love explains he had already created "many busts of local civic leaders" (66). Mundy began drawing at 12 but developed retinitis pigmentosa at 14 and slowly lost his sight, becoming blind at 50 in 1882, three years after he created this work. |
Post Express, illustration made from bust, February 26, 1895: 6.
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Joseph Becker (1841-1910), "The Late Senator Sumner; Ceremonies in the Capitol; Colored People of Washington, Heading by Frederick Douglass, Viewing the Remains," sketch in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, March 28, 1874: p.45.
NOTES: Born as Carl J. Becker in Pottsville, PA, Becker worked initially as an errand boy at Frank Leslie's. He had no formal training in art but accompanied the Union Army as an illustrator. He recorded the battles of Gettysburg and Petersburg as well as daily life in the camps. He dramatized an array of subjects including Chinese immigrant life.
NOTES: Born as Carl J. Becker in Pottsville, PA, Becker worked initially as an errand boy at Frank Leslie's. He had no formal training in art but accompanied the Union Army as an illustrator. He recorded the battles of Gettysburg and Petersburg as well as daily life in the camps. He dramatized an array of subjects including Chinese immigrant life.
"Our Artistic Correspondent Interviewing Frederick Douglass in the District Marshal's Office, Washington, D.C.; Illustrated Interviews with Eminent Public Men on Leading Topics of the Day," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, December 13, 1879: 257.
Fifth Page
Political Cartoons: The 1880s
Frederick Burr Opper (1857-1937), "Great Political Excitement in Indiana: The Whole State on the Stump," Puck, September 29, 1880: 66.
NOTES: Douglass, former Indiana Governor Thomas Hendricks, Indiana Senator Daniel Voorhees and Civil War hero John Logan stump during the 1880 presidential campaign. Douglass supports James Garfield ("Vote for Garfield!! The Colored Man’s Friend"), as does Logan ("Vote for Garfield!! He is Pure and Holy!!"). Hendricks's sign refers to the 1876 election, when he ran as vice-president on the Democratic ticket ("Remember 1876") and Voorhees supports the Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock ("Hancock is the Greenbacker’s friend!!!"). Opper was born in Madison, Ohio and was a major cartoonist.
NOTES: Douglass, former Indiana Governor Thomas Hendricks, Indiana Senator Daniel Voorhees and Civil War hero John Logan stump during the 1880 presidential campaign. Douglass supports James Garfield ("Vote for Garfield!! The Colored Man’s Friend"), as does Logan ("Vote for Garfield!! He is Pure and Holy!!"). Hendricks's sign refers to the 1876 election, when he ran as vice-president on the Democratic ticket ("Remember 1876") and Voorhees supports the Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock ("Hancock is the Greenbacker’s friend!!!"). Opper was born in Madison, Ohio and was a major cartoonist.
F.J. Willson, "Protest," pen and ink, 19 ¼ x 16 ¾ in., June 1883; American Antiquarian Society Drawings Collection, Box 16.
NOTES: Douglass carries a book labeled "F. Douglas," men and women carry notes and signs that say "Protest." In the upper left is a devilish looking man. Books litter the ground. A manuscript notation on reverse reads: "1883. Pub. June." Possibly published in the Daily Graphic, as Willson did other political cartoons for them, and we know that Celia Logan interviewed Douglass for the Daily Graphic in 1874.
NOTES: Douglass carries a book labeled "F. Douglas," men and women carry notes and signs that say "Protest." In the upper left is a devilish looking man. Books litter the ground. A manuscript notation on reverse reads: "1883. Pub. June." Possibly published in the Daily Graphic, as Willson did other political cartoons for them, and we know that Celia Logan interviewed Douglass for the Daily Graphic in 1874.
Henry Jackson Lewis (1837-1891), "What Shall Be Done With the Negro?" Freeman, May 25, 1889.
In this cartoon critiquing Secretary of State James G. Blaine's awarding of appointments to "big leaders," Douglass converses with Blaine and Blanche K. Bruce appears on the front page of a copy of the Freeman. Dogs with human heads representing black newspapers represent the "infernal, eternal press gang" that cannot "be reconciled" like Douglass. The following month (June 1889), Douglass accepted the appointment as U.S. Minister to Haiti. Lewis was the first African American political cartoonist. Self-taught and with no formal education, he was born a slave in 1837 or 1838 in Yalobusha County, Mississippi. The oldest known cartoons by Lewis were published in 1872. In the late 1880s he started working for an Indianapolis black weekly newspaper, The Freeman, launched on July 14, 1888. It was the first illustrated black newspaper in the U.S., billed as "the Harper's Weekly of the Colored Race." Lewis died of pneumonia in April 1891.
In this cartoon critiquing Secretary of State James G. Blaine's awarding of appointments to "big leaders," Douglass converses with Blaine and Blanche K. Bruce appears on the front page of a copy of the Freeman. Dogs with human heads representing black newspapers represent the "infernal, eternal press gang" that cannot "be reconciled" like Douglass. The following month (June 1889), Douglass accepted the appointment as U.S. Minister to Haiti. Lewis was the first African American political cartoonist. Self-taught and with no formal education, he was born a slave in 1837 or 1838 in Yalobusha County, Mississippi. The oldest known cartoons by Lewis were published in 1872. In the late 1880s he started working for an Indianapolis black weekly newspaper, The Freeman, launched on July 14, 1888. It was the first illustrated black newspaper in the U.S., billed as "the Harper's Weekly of the Colored Race." Lewis died of pneumonia in April 1891.
Henry Jackson Lewis, "Hon. Frederick Douglass Off for Hayti," Freeman, October 5, 1889.
Sixth Page
Portraits of an Elder Statesman: The 1880s
Sarah Jane Eddy (1851–1945), Frederick Douglass, 1883; canvas, oil, 64 x 49 in; National Historic Site. Douglass holds the baton that symbolized his authority during his tenure as marshal of the District of Columbia (1877–81). He sat for this portrait during two visits to Rhode Island in the spring and summer of 1883. Eddy was a sculptor, photographer and painter based in Rhode Island who was active in the women's rights movement and also painted a portrait of Susan B. Anthony. Du Bois hung this painting in the offices of The Crisis.
Sarah Jane Eddy, drawing, published in Francis F. Browne, The Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln (New York: N.D. Thompson Publishing Co., 1886), 583. Copy at the Library of Congress.
NOTES: Perhaps a drawing that Eddy made while working on the 1883 oil portrait. The caption in the book reads: "From a pen and ink sketch furnished by Mr. Douglass expressly for this work."
NOTES: Perhaps a drawing that Eddy made while working on the 1883 oil portrait. The caption in the book reads: "From a pen and ink sketch furnished by Mr. Douglass expressly for this work."
Chicago Tribune, June 23, 1888 (article about the Republican Convention)
Other Images (not using, will list in additional bibliography)
Edward Williams Clay, "An Amalgamation Polka: Respectfully dedicated to Miss Abby Kelly" (New York: A. Donnelly, 1845). American Antiquarian Society.
NOTES: African American men and women dance and mingle with white men and women. Abby Kelley Foster dances with Douglass at the center, flanked by Maria Weston Chapman and William Lloyd Garrison. Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799 and was a painter, caricaturist, engraver, lithographer, and etcher. Initially trained as a lawyer, he became a caricaturist specializing in racist imagery. He died in 1857 in New York City.
NOTES: African American men and women dance and mingle with white men and women. Abby Kelley Foster dances with Douglass at the center, flanked by Maria Weston Chapman and William Lloyd Garrison. Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799 and was a painter, caricaturist, engraver, lithographer, and etcher. Initially trained as a lawyer, he became a caricaturist specializing in racist imagery. He died in 1857 in New York City.
Ephraim W. Bouve (1817-1897), "The Fugitive's Song," lithograph, sheet music cover, published by Henry Prentiss, Boston, 1845 (deposited for copyright with the Library of Congress on July 23, 1845), 14 x 9 in; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
NOTES: Douglass flees barefoot from two mounted pursuers. A signpost points toward New England. The cover's text states that "The Fugitive's Song" was "composed and respectfully dedicated, in token of confident esteem to Frederick Douglass. A graduate from the peculiar institution. For his fearless advocacy, signal ability and wonderful success in behalf of his brothers in bonds. (and to the fugitives from slavery in the) free states & Canadas by their friend Jesse Hutchinson Junr." Bouve was a Boston engraver who advertised in Liberator and in 1848 she had a studio in Washington Street.
NOTES: Douglass flees barefoot from two mounted pursuers. A signpost points toward New England. The cover's text states that "The Fugitive's Song" was "composed and respectfully dedicated, in token of confident esteem to Frederick Douglass. A graduate from the peculiar institution. For his fearless advocacy, signal ability and wonderful success in behalf of his brothers in bonds. (and to the fugitives from slavery in the) free states & Canadas by their friend Jesse Hutchinson Junr." Bouve was a Boston engraver who advertised in Liberator and in 1848 she had a studio in Washington Street.
Abolition Fanaticism in New York, Baltimore, 1847 (anti-abolitionist pamphlet)
Samuel Rowse (1822-1901), "The Resurrection of Henry Box Brown at Philadelphia, who escaped from Richmond Va. in a bx 3 feet long 2 1/2 ft. deep and 2 ft wide," lithograph published by A. Donnelly, New York, 1850 (deposited for copyright on January 10, 1850), 10 ½ x 15 ½ in; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
NOTES: The image was the source for the frontispiece of Brown's 1851 Narrative. Douglass is supposed to be the African American man standing with a claw hammer. This man seems to be based on images of Douglass, and the Library of Congress and several other sources claim it is Douglass, although it can only have been meant as a representative of William Still (who was present when the box lid was removed in Philadelphia, whereas Douglass was not). Other lithographs of Brown's "resurrection" replace this Douglass-esque figure with Still, see here and here. Rowse was a portrait painter from Maine who did portraits of Thoreau, Emerson and Hawthorne.
NOTES: The image was the source for the frontispiece of Brown's 1851 Narrative. Douglass is supposed to be the African American man standing with a claw hammer. This man seems to be based on images of Douglass, and the Library of Congress and several other sources claim it is Douglass, although it can only have been meant as a representative of William Still (who was present when the box lid was removed in Philadelphia, whereas Douglass was not). Other lithographs of Brown's "resurrection" replace this Douglass-esque figure with Still, see here and here. Rowse was a portrait painter from Maine who did portraits of Thoreau, Emerson and Hawthorne.
George Cruikshank, illustration in The Uncle Tom's Cabin Almanack, or, Abolitionist Memento, for 1853 (London: J. Cassell, 1852), p.23; captioned "Douglass Flogged by Covey." Also published as "Douglas wird von Covey gezüchtigt," illustration in Weber's Volks-Kalendar (Leipzig: Verlag von J.J. Weber, 1853), p.143. The caption translates to: "Douglass was punished by Covey." The book title translates to People's Almanac.
Edward Williams Clay (1799-1857), "Great presidential sweepstakes over the Washington Course" (New York: John Childs, 1852). American Antiquarian Society.
NB: Depicts potential presidential candidates in a horse race. Douglass urges on Free-Soiler Hale, Graham encourages Webster (but later runs with Scott). Scott and his rider, Seward, fall; King and Pierce are in the lead.
NB: Depicts potential presidential candidates in a horse race. Douglass urges on Free-Soiler Hale, Graham encourages Webster (but later runs with Scott). Scott and his rider, Seward, fall; King and Pierce are in the lead.
Edward Williams Clay, "Experiments on the Tight Rope," lithograph (New York: John Childs, 1852). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
NB: Depicts Winfield Scott's failure in the 1852 presidential contest, attributed here to his alliance with abolitionist interests. Scott is hoisted aloft by (left to right): an unidentified man, New York Times editor Henry J. Raymond, Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Pennsylvania representative David Wilmot, and William Seward.
NB: Depicts Winfield Scott's failure in the 1852 presidential contest, attributed here to his alliance with abolitionist interests. Scott is hoisted aloft by (left to right): an unidentified man, New York Times editor Henry J. Raymond, Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Pennsylvania representative David Wilmot, and William Seward.
Frank Bellew (1828-1888), "A Distinguished Turnout," The Lantern, May 29, 1852, p. 206, cartoon.
Cynthia Hill, "Frederick Douglass Doll," circa 1858, New Bedford, 16 3/8 in., New Bedford Whaling Museum.
NOTES: Cloth doll, covered in black silk; raised lips, nose, chin; hard shiny eyes; hair, sideburns, eyebrows of curly black wool; ears with buttonhole edge; dark brown handslight palms and fingernails. Black homespun jacket with silk lining, three buttons; brown silk waistcoat (lined) and a white shirt with a black silk band at the neck; brown trousers and brown shoes with light soles.
NOTES: Cloth doll, covered in black silk; raised lips, nose, chin; hard shiny eyes; hair, sideburns, eyebrows of curly black wool; ears with buttonhole edge; dark brown handslight palms and fingernails. Black homespun jacket with silk lining, three buttons; brown silk waistcoat (lined) and a white shirt with a black silk band at the neck; brown trousers and brown shoes with light soles.
"The Irrepressible Conflict," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 19, 1859: 398.
NOTES: Governor Henry Wise pulling ropes with Joshua Giddings, Horace Greeley, William H. Seward, Frederick Douglass, and Gerrit Smith at the other end. Hugh Forbes stands alongside encouraging Wise. For the lengthy caption, click here.
NOTES: Governor Henry Wise pulling ropes with Joshua Giddings, Horace Greeley, William H. Seward, Frederick Douglass, and Gerrit Smith at the other end. Hugh Forbes stands alongside encouraging Wise. For the lengthy caption, click here.
"The Nigger on the Fence," Frank Leslie's Budget of Fun, January 1, 1860.
"Major-Gen Sheridan's Ride from Washington to Philadelphia," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, October 12, 1867: 49 (front page). Caption reads: "Major-General Sheridan receiving the congratulations of Fred Douglass and the colored citizens of Baltimore, at the Philadelphia Depot, Baltimore."
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James Taylor, "The Santo Domingo Commission.--Reception by President Baez, in the Executive Mansion, Santo Domingo, February 2d.--Commissioner Wade Reading an Address to Baez," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, March 11, 1871: 421.
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James Taylor, "The Santo Domingo Commission.--The Commissioners, at their Headquarters in Santo Domingo City, taking Testimony from the neighboring Villagers," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, March 18, 1871: 13.
James E. Taylor, "Plantation Owners in Santo Domingo," 1871; National Historic Site.
NOTES: Taylor was an illustrator for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and accompanied Douglass on the 1871 trip to Santo Domingo. This particular illustration did not appear in Frank Leslie's. The National Historic Site dates this as 1871 and identifies the woman in the image as Madam Hyppolite, wife of the Haitian president in 1871.
NOTES: Taylor was an illustrator for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and accompanied Douglass on the 1871 trip to Santo Domingo. This particular illustration did not appear in Frank Leslie's. The National Historic Site dates this as 1871 and identifies the woman in the image as Madam Hyppolite, wife of the Haitian president in 1871.
Lusks, "The Great 'Human Rights' Movement," Wild Oats Journal, June 6, 1872: 9
James E. Taylor, "Fred. Douglass in the Lobby of the Grand Hotel, Counseling the Colored Delegates," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, July 1, 1876: 276 (about the National Republican Convention at Cincinnati).
Joseph Keppler, "The Millennium at Last!," Puck, March 3, 1877: 8-9 (centrefold).
NOTES: The caption reads: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. Isaiah, 11th Chap. 6th Verse." In the upper left are Jefferson Davis, Whitelaw Reid and Simon Cameron. In the center: William Blaine, Samuel Tilden and Oliver Morton. On the left, Douglass and David McKey share the Treasury bowl. Douglass is depicted as an ape. Also depicted are Zachariah Chandler, Henry Ward Beecher, Theodore Tilton, Charles Dana, Carl Schurz and Ulysses S. Grant. Keppler was born 1838 and died 1894. He was hired as a cartoonist at Frank Leslie's in 1873. He was born in Vienna and emigrated to the US in 1867. He founded America's first humorous weekly, Puck.
NOTES: The caption reads: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. Isaiah, 11th Chap. 6th Verse." In the upper left are Jefferson Davis, Whitelaw Reid and Simon Cameron. In the center: William Blaine, Samuel Tilden and Oliver Morton. On the left, Douglass and David McKey share the Treasury bowl. Douglass is depicted as an ape. Also depicted are Zachariah Chandler, Henry Ward Beecher, Theodore Tilton, Charles Dana, Carl Schurz and Ulysses S. Grant. Keppler was born 1838 and died 1894. He was hired as a cartoonist at Frank Leslie's in 1873. He was born in Vienna and emigrated to the US in 1867. He founded America's first humorous weekly, Puck.
"Colored Citizens Paying Their Respects to Marshall Frederick Douglass," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, April 7, 1877: 85.
NOTES: Caption reads: "Washington, D.C.--the new administration--colored citizens paying their respects to Marshall Frederick Douglass, in his office at the city hall. Sketched by our special artist." Most likely by Becker again.
NOTES: Caption reads: "Washington, D.C.--the new administration--colored citizens paying their respects to Marshall Frederick Douglass, in his office at the city hall. Sketched by our special artist." Most likely by Becker again.
Cornelia Adèle Strong Fassett, "The Florida Case before the Electoral Commission," 1879, oil on canvas; held at the United States Senate.
NOTES: Douglass is at the bottom far right, third from the bottom, in profile. Click here for a close-up of him. Fassett (1831-1898) was famous as a painter of political portraits. She also did portraits of Lincoln, Grant, Hayes and Garfield. Fassett was not commissioned to create this painting but decided to create it herself and worked on it from 1877, setting up a temporary studio in the U.S. Capitol's Supreme Court Chamber during the summers of 77 and 78 when court was not in session. The painting includes 256 people, including 60 women. Fassett would have been aware of Samuel F. B. Morse's painting, The Old House of Representatives created in 1822. This work was bought by Congress and in is the painting collection of the Supreme Court.
NOTES: Douglass is at the bottom far right, third from the bottom, in profile. Click here for a close-up of him. Fassett (1831-1898) was famous as a painter of political portraits. She also did portraits of Lincoln, Grant, Hayes and Garfield. Fassett was not commissioned to create this painting but decided to create it herself and worked on it from 1877, setting up a temporary studio in the U.S. Capitol's Supreme Court Chamber during the summers of 77 and 78 when court was not in session. The painting includes 256 people, including 60 women. Fassett would have been aware of Samuel F. B. Morse's painting, The Old House of Representatives created in 1822. This work was bought by Congress and in is the painting collection of the Supreme Court.
"Back from Liberia," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, December 6, 1879: 248.
"The Last Time He Saw His Mother," illustration from Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Hartford: Park Publishing Co., 1881), p.22. Douglass disliked the Life and Times illustrations, writing on October 30, 1881, to Sylvester M. Betts: "I am no more reconciled than ever to the publication of my life with the illustrations, and I ask and insist, as I have a right to do, that an edition of the book shall be published without illustrations, for Northern circulation. I beg to remind you, that in the contract made with me, for the publication of the book, you say nothing about illustrations; you only bind yourself to publish the book on 'good white paper,' with a steel engraving of the author.This contrast does not permit you to load the book with all manner of coarse and shocking wood cuts such as may be found in the newspapers of the day. If the woodcuts had been submitted to my approval, and I have given it, I should have been stopped from objecting as I now do, but you have gone outside the contract, taken the matter in your own hands, and I hold, have marred and spoiled my work entirely. I have no pleasure whatever in the book, and shall not have while the engravings remain. I think I have ground for appealing to the law under the contract, and getting an injunction against your publishing the book in its present shape. I hope you will not drive me to this last resort. Regretting me the necessity that compels me to speak thus plainly, Respectfully yours, Frederick Douglass." The Frederick Douglass Papers, Library of Congress.
"Mrs. Auld Teaching Him to Read," illustration from Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Hartford: Park Publishing Co., 1881), p.70.
"Found in the Woods by Sandy," illustration from Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Hartford: Park Publishing Co., 1881), p.132.
"Driven to Jail for Running Away, illustration from Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Hartford: Park Publishing Co., 1881), p.168.
NB: Douglass is supposed to be the figure nearest to the woman (Mrs. Betsey Freeland).
NB: Douglass is supposed to be the figure nearest to the woman (Mrs. Betsey Freeland).
"At the Wharf in Newport," illustration from Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Hartford: Park Publishing Co., 1881), p.206.
NB: Representing Douglass and Anna.
NB: Representing Douglass and Anna.
"Fighting the Mob in Indiana," illustration from Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Hartford: Park Publishing Co., 1881), p.234.
"Marshal at the Inauguration of Pres. Garfield," illustration from Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Hartford: Park Publishing Co., 1881), p.434.
"Revisits His Old Home," illustration from Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Hartford: Park Publishing Co., 1881), p.454.
Joseph Keppler, "Through Night to Light," Puck, October 25, 1882.
Mayer Markel and Ottman of 21-25 Warren Street, New York, chromolithograph advertisement (back cover to advertising brochure for Suplher Bitters), circa 1884, 10 x 8 in; National Historic Site; Yale University's Beinecke Library, Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection (JWJ MSS 54, 36, 1106); also held by Walter Evans (private collection). Douglass and Helen emerging from a pharmacy with a box of "Sulphur Bitters, the Great Blood Purifier." Caption reads: "News Boy: Hi, yi, dere Jimmy whose dem folkses whats got de sulphur bitters? Boot Black: I spec dats Fred Douglas and his wife golly he is going to take de sulphur bitters for his complexion." Likely produced soon after news of Douglass and Helen's marriage (1884).
Joseph Ferdinand Keppler (1838-1894), "The Pyrrhic Victory of the Mulligan Guards in Maine, chromolithograph, published in Puck, September 17, 1884 (centerfold). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
NB: Depicts James G. Blaine, W.W. Phelps, Whitelaw Reid, Stephen B. Elkins, John A. Logan, Charles A. Dana and George M. Robeson. Douglass holds a sign labeled "Mulligan Guards Blaine's Record" that has drawn enemy fire.
NB: Depicts James G. Blaine, W.W. Phelps, Whitelaw Reid, Stephen B. Elkins, John A. Logan, Charles A. Dana and George M. Robeson. Douglass holds a sign labeled "Mulligan Guards Blaine's Record" that has drawn enemy fire.
Bricktop, illustrations in Fred Douglass and His Mule: A Story of the War (2nd ed., New York: M.J. Ivers & Co., 1886) [racist caricatures of a black servant nicknamed Fred Douglass, rather than of Douglass himself].
Henry Jackson Lewis, Untitled Cartoon, Freeman, February 16, 1889. Political cartoon depicting Douglass as an "owl-wise sage" endorsing the "monkey business" of William Mahone, who was running for Virginia governor on a Republican ticket. The previous year, Douglass had supported Mahone's white candidate for Congress in Virginia over a black candidate, John Mercer Langston.
Henry Jackson Lewis, "The Candidates for the Recordership of Deeds is Legion," Freeman, February 23, 1889. Political cartoon portraying a struggle over the awarding of the post of Recorder of Deeds in Washington D.C., a post previously held by Douglass from 1881 to 1886. The post eventually went to Blanche K. Bruce, who served as Recorder from 1889-1895.
Henry Jackson Lewis, "President Harrison and the Office Seekers," Freeman, March 9, 1889. Political cartoon with Douglass at a table, holding a copy of the Freeman, while President Harrison carves up pies marked Marshalship, Consulates and Recordership of Deeds. In the background a host of African American men wait patiently for their own slices of the pies.
Henry Jackson Lewis, "The Race Problem," Freeman, March 30, 1889. Political cartoon with vignettes depicting the "different methods of solving" the "race problem." Douglass appears in the central vignette as a portrait on the wall. The portraits in this vignette are hung exactly the same way, equally askew. A pipe divides the men in the room. Four stand with Harrison and the white press, and five with Douglass, whose space also includes the image of the US Capitol and the man reading the Freeman itself.
Henry Jackson Lewis "Frederick Gets the 'Plum' (Haytian Mission)," Freeman, July 20, 1889.
Political cartoon critiquing Harrison's appointment of Douglass as ambassador to Haiti, suggesting he deserved a post of greater importance and also that many other black candidates for office are still left with nothing. Harrison is a monarch, with Blaine to the right of his throne.
Political cartoon critiquing Harrison's appointment of Douglass as ambassador to Haiti, suggesting he deserved a post of greater importance and also that many other black candidates for office are still left with nothing. Harrison is a monarch, with Blaine to the right of his throne.
Henry Jackson Lewis, unpublished drawing, circa 1889; DuSable Museum of African American History.
NOTES: This drawing depicts the editor of the Indianapolis Freeman, Edward Elder Cooper, at work in his study. Above his desk are two portraits, one of Cooper himself and one of Douglass. For the detail of this Douglass portrait, click here. The other images on the wall look like Lafayette, a Civil War soldier and the DC Capitol. It shows the ubiquity of Douglass imagery, that there are even image-within-images, Douglass on the walls within his own lifetime - it suggests that people really did display Douglass in their offices / homes in the 19th century as well as the 20th. This one has to be from between 1888 and 1891 (because the newspaper was launched in July 1888 and Lewis died in April 1891).
NOTES: This drawing depicts the editor of the Indianapolis Freeman, Edward Elder Cooper, at work in his study. Above his desk are two portraits, one of Cooper himself and one of Douglass. For the detail of this Douglass portrait, click here. The other images on the wall look like Lafayette, a Civil War soldier and the DC Capitol. It shows the ubiquity of Douglass imagery, that there are even image-within-images, Douglass on the walls within his own lifetime - it suggests that people really did display Douglass in their offices / homes in the 19th century as well as the 20th. This one has to be from between 1888 and 1891 (because the newspaper was launched in July 1888 and Lewis died in April 1891).
Moses Tucker, "An Opossum Dinner," Freeman, December 21, 1889.
