Image of the Black Man
Frederick Douglass was the most photographed American of the 19th century. His fight for the rights of negro people included re-making the image of what a black man is and could be. He objected to illustrations which showed features designed to confirm the notion of the ignorance and imbecility of the dark-skinned. Yet he also did not like an illustration of himself smiling because it did not show how he felt as a former slave. He embraced the new art of photography as providing a "true likeness." A photograph was impartial the way an image by a white artist could not be. Photographs could show character, not just skin color.
As photographs of white-skinned slaves shows, color alone was not a reliable guide to who was, and was not, entitled to live in freedom.
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