2-832-824 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

A lithographic print of African-American diplomat, abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) who escaped from slavery in Maryland aged 21. He became a national leader of the abolitionist movement. Famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings, he was described by abolitionists as a living counterexample to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. The print is hand colored. Douglass is sitting at a desk and reading a newspaper. His right leg is crossed over his left and he is looking to his right. At the bottom underneath the image is “No. 7.—Our Artistic Correspondent interviewing Frederick Douglass in the District Marshal’s (sic) Office, Washington, D.C..” and “Illustrated Interviews with Eminent Public Men on Leading Topics of the Day.—see Page 258, 1879." The print is matted and framed.