Patrick Henry Reason was one of the few commercially active black engravers of the 1830’s and 40’s. He was the brother of Charles Reason , teacher and principal for a time at the Institute of Colored Youth. Patrick contributed a
William Whipper
William Whipper was another successful black businessman who helped underwrite the antislavery movement and a host of local black improvement efforts. In 1834, he contributed to Cassey’s album a two-page essay “Moral Reform.” Within a couple of years, Whipper and Cassey organized
Frederick Douglass
“I never felt more entirely out of my sphere than when presuming to write in an Album,” Frederick Douglass noted in his 1850 contribution. His business-like, self-taught handwriting fills the page withan apology for his rougher contribution to an album
Sarah Mapps Douglass (1806-1882)
Sarah Mapps Douglass was a teacher, an artist, a writer, an activist, a lecturer, and a poet. Born in Philadelphia on 1806, Douglass was the daughter of and Robert Douglass, a hairdresser, and Grace Bustill Douglass, a milliner and a
William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879)
William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent abolitionist and journalist, born on December 10, 1805. After his father died in 1808, he was raised in poverty by his devoutly religious mother. After running away from his carpentry apprenticeship, Garrison found work