Frederick Douglass - Statesman, Abolitionist, Champion of the People
A sheet of pencil drawings centred on a portrait of Frederick Douglass, with panels of a laborer, a launching Liberty ship and Douglass speaking to Lincoln, each with a caption. The tell is transfer: Douglass's standing is lent to wartime labor, shipbuilding and Black enlistment.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Charles Alston)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Diaspora or minority
- Purpose
- Commemorate
- Themes
- Race and ethnicity, Labor, War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 208, OWI Cartoon Artworks (NAID 535594), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-190 (NAID 535673).
Text on the object
FREDERICK DOUGLASS STATESMAN, ABOLITIONIST, CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE. Knowing the hardships of the laborer, Douglass became one of his pioneer champions. While fighting fiercely for the rights of his own people, he pointed the way to the organization and unity of all working people. Douglass, a Maryland born slave, once worked as a ship's caulker, only a short distance from the site where a Liberty ship, bearing his name was launched recently. With the firm conviction that free men should have the right to defend their freedom, Douglass convinced Lincoln of the wisdom of enlisting Negro troops in the Union armies. He himself helped organize the 54th Massachusetts regiment, of Fort Wagner fame. Alston OWI
