Robert Douglass: close up portrait of a black man, wearing a coat, with a neckwear, and a white shirt. His body faces the camera, his face is skewed to the right, and his eyes are looking into the camera.

Robert Douglass, dyeing and cleaning business, Washington, D.C. Creation: 1870-1879. Photographer: Rice (Firm: Washington, D.C.). Collection: Cartes de visite.  Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Robert Douglass

Transcript below

Robert Douglas

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1809. Successful in ornamental painting, later turned to portraiture. Portraiture connected him with the abolitionist movement in the United States & Britain. In 1833, founded the Philadelphia Library Company of Colored Persons to cultivate the knowledge of literature, science, debating and public speaking skills among free Black male members. Between 1833 and 1846, created images of Black people and white abolitionists that challenged racial stereotypes popular in visual images of his time.  Secretary of the National Colored Conventions in 1855. Died in 1887. None of his work survived.

 

End of Transcript

Many thanks to the speaker Linden D Anderson from the Schomburg Center

The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries.