Promising to transform our understanding of American photography and its vital place in the life and legacy of Douglass him-self, this groundbreaking work introduces a black man and ex-slave as the most photographed American of the nineteenth century. Indeed, Douglass's awareness of the possibilities of imagery to shape public opinion, coupled with his ability to control and circulate his own image, shaped one of the great battles in American history a battle between racist stereotypes and dignified self-possession. Across fifty years of photographs, Douglass fought for the public image of African Americans. Across the next century, in his visual afterlife, these photographs fought on.