Frederick Douglass was once the most photographed American.

Famous Figures

F rederick Douglass once said, "It is evident that the great cheapness and universality of pictures must exert a powerful, though silent, inﬂuence upon the ideas and sentiment of present and future generations."

He would know: The abolitionist, author, and civil rights leader was the most photographed American of the 19th century, having sat for more portraits than the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and Thomas Edison. There are more than 160 pictures of Douglass taken during his lifetime, reflecting his unique stature in America's cultural fabric.

Born into slavery in 1818, Douglass escaped at age 20 and later wrote that in freedom he "lived more in one day than in a year of my slave life." He saw photography as a great leveler, a means of presenting himself in a dignified manner that undercut any preconceived notions his critics and peers might have of him. He illustrated this idea in his 1861 speech "Lecture on Picture," saying, "The humbled servant girl whose income is but a few shillings per week may now possess a more perfect likeness of herself than noble ladies and court royalty."

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By the Numbers

Vote Douglass received for U.S. president at the 1888 Republican National Convention

Autobiographies written by Douglass

Did you know?

John Quincy Adams was the first president to be photographed.

In March 1843, John Quincy Adams did something historic: had his picture taken. He did so at artist Philip Haas' studio in Washington, D.C., sitting for a portrait captured via daguerreotype, the first successful photography format. Adams' single term as president had ended in 1829, and at the time he was photographed he was representing Massachusetts in the House of Representatives. Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery, said upon acquiring the daguerreotype that Adams having his portrait taken "confirms that in many ways America was born modern; embracing not only new government ideals but also the latest technologies that helped its leaders to become accessible to the public."