Portrait of Frederick Douglass, by George Francis Schreiber, c. 1870

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Taken during the heydey of Reconstruction, this portrait shows Douglass seemingly deep in thought. Gazing to the extreme left of the camera, Douglass opens his mouth just slightly while maintaining an intense focus on something off-sides. With Douglass’s typical refined stature and respectable appearance, this portrait continues to develop his persona as the “representative race man” for African Americans.

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