Jake Blaney
12/14/16
I visited the African American Museum on Beacon Hill in Boston, and privately toured the Frederick Douglass rooms with my older brother before the tours began early Tuesday morning. Frederick Douglass was born in 1818 and liberated himself from slavery in 1838. He began his career as an abolitionist orator and public figure in 1848, just as his popularity began to rise the Daguerreotype camera became the first form of practical photography making it easier to have your picture taken.
At the museum photography is usually not allowed, but without taking a tour I managed to get pictures of some of the many photos of Douglass. He is the most photographed man in the United States of the 19th Century.
The two photographs below are the last two pictures taken of Frederick Douglass ever. The one on the top left side is the only photo in which Douglas sclearly depicts a smile in. The one on the bottom right is a picture probably taken on the 21st of February a day after Frederick Douglass's death.
http://maah.org/exhibits.htm
Jake I think you did a great job taking the pictures, I went there on tuesday and was very concerned about getting caught taking any. I have learned to love Frederick Douglass story through this class, before I did not know much about him, now I feel comfortable talking about him and everything he stood up for. I am definitely leaving this course with a favorite reformer and this is Frederick Douglass.
ReplyDeleteIt might not be a good idea to admit on the blog that you took photos when you were not supposed to take them. I need to get to the museum to see the exhibit. I find the last two photos intriguing. He looks very elderly in the last one, he died at 77 years of age. Many times they took photos of people who had passed away, at their wake. Many times because they had no photos from when they were alive. Of course that was not the case for Douglass.
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