Frederick Douglass | duration: 26 seconds

Historical image is Public Domain | Metropolitan Museum of Art

AI tools were used to animate this portrait (ca.1855) of Frederick Douglass by an unknown photographer.

From the commentary by the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Born into slavery, Frederick Douglass (1817–1895) escaped his bondage in 1838 and became the most persuasive orator for the cause of abolition, among other reformist causes. In addition to founding a newspaper and penning three autobiographies, he lectured extensively before and during the Civil War, "thundering against slavery," in the words of W. E. B. Du Bois. One of the first critical theorists of photography, Douglass delivered multiple lectures on the topic between 1861 and 1865, including "Pictures and Progress," on the medium’s ability to render subjective consciousness in an objective form. He advocated for photography’s potential to counteract distorted representations of African Americans and reverse the "social death" caused by slavery.