2-832-857 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

A seated portrait of an older Frederick Douglass. African-American diplomat, abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) 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. Douglass wears a suit with bow tie, jacket and vest.