Robert Douglass Jr. (1809 – October 26, 1887) was an
African-American artist and leading activist from
Philadelphia.
Biography
Born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1809, Robert Douglass Jr. was the son of the abolitionist and community leaders Robert Douglass Sr., from the Caribbean island of
St Kitts, and
Grace Bustill Douglass, daughter of
Cyrus Bustill. His sister was artist and abolitionist
Sarah Mapps Douglass
Sarah Mapps Douglass (September 9, 1806 – September 8, 1882) was an American educator, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, writer, and public lecturer. Her painted images on her written letters may be the first or earliest survivi ...
; he also had four other siblings.
Douglass Jr. took a leading role in the
National Colored Conventions and served as a secretary at the 1855 Convention.
He trained at
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, which rarely admitted black students, and also trained at the
Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
while he was visiting London. A student of
Thomas Sully, he went on to mentor his own cousin and fellow artist,
David Bustill Bowser.
Douglass taught at the
Institute for Colored Youth. An article from 1890 recognised him as a "portrait painter of some merit". He also painted landscapes and is considered Philadelphia's first African-American photographer.
Notable works include portraits of abolitionists including
William Lloyd Garrison and
James Forten in 1834. His commercial business consisted of sign painting and interior decoration.
Little of his work survives.
Douglass emigrated to
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
in 1824, with the support of the
Haitian Emigration Society of Philadelphia, an organization created by
Richard Allen and Forten. Douglass also migrated to
Jamaica in the late 1840s but later returned to Philadelphia.
See also
*
African-American upper class
References
External links
*
Robert M. Douglass, Jr. (memorial). Salt Lake City, Utah: Find A Grave.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglass, Robert Jr.
1809 births
1887 deaths
African-American abolitionists
African-American artists
Artists from Philadelphia
Robeson-Bustill family
African-American college graduates before 1865
American emigrants to Haiti