Today Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by the Sumner R. and Marshall S. Kates Professor of English and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, John Stauffer.
John and Maureen dive into his book Picturing Frederick Douglass which has become a national bestseller. The two talk about images of Frederick Douglass, and how photos of individuals from history can give us a fuller picture of their lives.
John delves into telling the audience more about Frederick Douglass’ life and work but also explains how he believes that Douglass’ rebellion in how he was photographed, in how often he was photographed, and his passion for pushing standards, makes him a critical figure not only in our nation’s history but also the history of photography.
Related Episodes:
Episode 101: Rediscovering an American Community of Color
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About My Guest:
JOHN STAUFFER is the Sumner R. and Marshall S. Kates Professor of English and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. He is the author or editor of 20 books and over 100 articles, including GIANTS: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, a national bestseller; and the award-winning Black Hearts of Men, Battle Hymn of the Republic, and Picturing Frederick Douglass. His essays and reviews have appeared in Time, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and in exhibition catalogs, journals, and books.
Professor Stauffer has presented on CNN and other national TV and radio stations and has served as a consultant or co-curator on films, exhibitions, and video games including: God in America, Django Unchained, WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY, The Free State of Jones, The Abolitionists, Picturing Frederick Douglass, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Reconstruction: America After the Civil War.
He received three teaching awards from Harvard and was named a Walter Channing Cabot Fellow for “achievements and scholarly eminence in the fields of literature, history, or art.” The Harvard Class of 2021 voted him “Harvard Favorite Professor.”
He is currently curating an exhibition on Frederick Douglass for the Smithsonian Museum’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., scheduled to open in June 2023; and he is finishing a book on the U.S. Senator, abolitionist and civil rights leader Charles Sumner.
He lives in Cambridge with his wife, Deborah Cunningham and their two sons, Erik and Nicholas.
About Maureen Taylor:
Maureen is a frequent keynote speaker on photo identification, photograph preservation, and family history at historical and genealogical societies, museums, conferences, libraries, and other organizations across the U.S., London and Canada. She’s the author of several books and hundreds of articles and her television appearances include The View and The Today Show (where she researched and presented a complete family tree for host Meredith Vieira). She’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel, American Spirit, and The New York Times. Maureen was recently a spokesperson and photograph expert for MyHeritage.com, an internationally known family history website and also writes guidebooks, scholarly articles and online columns for such media as Smithsonian.com. Learn more at Maureentaylor.com