Robert Douglass, Jr.

Robert Douglass, Jr. (1809 – 1887) was an African-American artist and leading activist from Philadelphia.

He was the son abolitionists and community leaders Robert Douglass Sr., born in St Kitts, and Grace Bustill Douglass, daughter of Cyrus Bustill. His sister was artist and abolitionist Sarah Mapps Douglass.

Douglass Jr. took at leading role in the National Colored Conventions and served as a secretary at the 1855 Convention.

He trained at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, when it was unheard of them to admit Black people, and also trained at the Royal Academy of Arts when he spent time in London. It is thought he initially studied art with his cousin, artist David Bustill Bowser. He was a student of Thomas Sully.

Douglass taught at the Institite 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 commerical business consisted of sign painting and interior decoration. Little of his work survives.

Douglass emigrated to Haiti in 1824, with the support of the Haitian Emigration Society of Philadelphia, an organization created by Richard Allen and Forten. He also emigrated to Jamaica in the late 1840s but later returned to Philadelphia.

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