A new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery explores the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass through both memorabilia from his life and several photographs of the man himself. In addition to being a leading abolitionist and civil rights activist, the museum notes that Douglass was “the most photographed American of the 19th century, a public face of the nation.” This accolade was no accident.
The NPG’s guest curator, John Stauffer, noted in remarks at a June 15 press preview that Douglass understood the power of images in shaping public perception. Stauffer, the Sumner R. and Marshall S. Kates Professor of English and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, worked with Ann Shumard, the NPG’s senior curator of photographs, to develop a collection that adds a more nuanced lens through which to understand Douglass’ abolition work.
In his remarks, Stauffer quoted Douglass, who said in a speech, that “poets, prophets, and performers are all picture-makers and visibility is the secret of their power.” The exhibition displays ephemera from his life along with images of Douglass. Copies of his written works and posters promoting Douglass’ pro-abolition meetings sit alongside photographs, paintings, and busts of the activist. The different pieces exhibited aim to demonstrate the intimate relationship between images and protest.
Douglass was first and foremost an abolitionist who championed African American rights before and after Emancipation Day. But he is also remembered for being “one of the 19th century’s most influential writers, speakers and intellectuals,” the press release notes. Stauffer calls the mid-19th century “the golden age of oratory.” As public speaking became more popular, these speeches helped to spread new ideas, Stauffer explains. Douglass saw the impact new forms of media and technology—such as the photograph—could have on establishing him as a public figure, and giving credit to his work advancing human rights.
Douglass understood the power of photography as a “true art,” the press release notes, for its ability to capture its real human subjects in a way that other art forms did not. Specifically, the release contrasts photos with the racist caricatures that were often used to portray African Americans.
As an activist, Stauffer tells City Paper, Douglass knew fame would broaden the reach of his message, and photography was a huge asset to accomplishing this. The art helped the public connect Douglass’ words to his real face. As Douglass’ fame spread, Stauffer says, he would sell photographs and copies of autobiographies during his speeches. “He recognized the importance of disseminating different forms of his voice,” Stauffer says. Picture making was crucial to his protest and activism.
One Life: Frederick Douglass explores the life of one of the nation’s greatest civil rights leaders. The exhibition spans from his birth into slavery in Maryland to his escape and eventual freedom to his enduring legacy. The exhibition opens ahead of Juneteenth, the holiday marking the emancipation of enslaved African Americans and acknowledging the inequality that continued immediately afterward, which still manifests in society today.
Douglass and his abolition work remain an inspiration for activists today. The exhibition depicts the long arc of Douglass’ life through samples of his work and objects that “highlight the power of his remarkable impact,” Stauffer says in the press release. At the press preview, the curator highlighted pieces such as the copies of his written work, correspondence, and photos that One Life: Frederick Douglass displays, and that signify the success and breadth of his activism.
The exhibition is not the only local tribute to the life and legacy of Douglass. The District rededicated the South Capitol Street Bridge to Douglass, naming it the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, in 1965.
Douglass hailed from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, but after escaping slavery in 1838, at the age of 20, he traveled to New York, where he married Anna Murray. After Emancipation Day, he returned to the mid-Atlantic and settled in Uniontown, a historic neighborhood in Southeast D.C., where he built his home on Cedar Hill. The estate remains a historical site, and Anacostia now has several murals honoring the abolitionist.
After Douglass and Murray settled up north, he began attending abolitionist meetings and later, the exhibition explains, “went on to publish three autobiographies and a novella, deliver thousands of speeches and edit the longest continually running Black newspaper of the 19th century, then called The North Star.”
The exhibition will include several of Douglass’ written works as well as his correspondence with President Abraham Lincoln, whom he befriended and advised as his words and ideas spread, and his political influence grew.
The exhibition explores his friendship with President Lincoln and his eventual position as U.S. Marshal of the District of Columbia. But its larger focus remains on Douglass’ enduring influence on artists and activists today, and how photography, this “true art,” helped to facilitate this. Douglass, the Gallery notes, saw this art to be an engine of social change.
Douglass’ words and work continue to be used as a model for activists and leaders today focused on issues of representation, equity, or enfranchisement. Adding a new depth to the public understanding of Douglass’ work demonstrates not only the significance of his accomplishments, but how it can continue to shape activism today.
One Life: Frederick Douglass runs June 16, 2023, through April 21, 2024, at the National Portrait Gallery, 8th and G streets NW. npg.si.edu. Free.