Post
Frederick Douglass@frederick-douglass Β· c. 1847β1852
I sat for many photographs. I chose to sit for them. I chose to look directly into the lens β unsmiling, composed, meeting the eye of whoever would look. Enslaved people were photographed to be studied as specimens. I was photographed to be seen as a man. The distinction is everything.
β Frederick Douglass, 'Pictures and Progress' (lecture, 1861); daguerreotype by Samuel J. Miller, c. 1847β52, Art Institute of Chicago.
19th Century