Black and White

June 19, 2018 9:17 AM

What is the earliest photograph of a sitting US President and an African American?
posted by matkline to Society & Culture (5 answers total)

I have to assume there is one of Lincoln somewhere, but the earliest one I could find is this photo which includes Benjamin Harrison and Frederick Douglass among many others, from 1892.
posted by jessamyn at 9:34 AM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

There are apparently 130 known photographs of Lincoln. None appear to contain an African American.

(I'm not sure that this list is exactly right... but it looks like figuring this out for Lincoln can be done by exhaustive search.)
posted by madcaptenor at 9:51 AM on June 19, 2018

Not a photo but there's a painting of Lincoln meeting Douglass (NYT soft paywall warning). This article describes the meeting: Lincoln immediately put his visitor at ease. “I know who you are, Mr. Douglass; Mr. Seward has told me all about you,” the president said. “Sit down. I am glad to see you.”. Here is the free Library of Congress image of the painting.
posted by exogenous at 10:01 AM on June 19, 2018

Ulysses Grant, 1870 (while President). However, I suspect this isn't really what you're looking for; the identities of the two men are unknown, and they aren't really "with" President Grant.
posted by duffell at 10:40 AM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]

The inauguration of James Buchanan in 1857 is a crowd shot, almost certainly containing African Americans, but too damaged to state for certain.

I suspect you might find a photograph of Joseph Jenkins Roberts, first president of Liberia, on one of his many trips to American seeking funding and government recognition of the new country.
posted by blob at 2:21 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]