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14 votes
14 votes
Frederick Douglass didn’t smile in any pictures.why not

User Joel Dehlin
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2 Answers

22 votes
22 votes

My Answer:

Frederick Douglass chose to not smile in those photographs as he doesn’t want to be portrayed as a ‘happy slave' and rather prefers to show the “face of a fugitive slave.”

User Ksnortum
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2.9k points
9 votes
9 votes

Answer:

he wanted to counter “happy slave” caricatures that were common at the time

User Davidfowl
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3.0k points