Before the photograph, representations of Black Americans were limited to drawings, paintings, and engravings. “Negroes can never have impartial portraits at the hands of white artists,” Douglass wrote. “It seems to us next to impossible for white men to take likenesses of black men, without most grossly exaggerating their distinctive features.”28 One exaggeration, in particular, prevailed during Douglass’s time. “We colored men so often see ourselves described and painted as monkeys, that we think it a great piece of good fortune to find an exception to this general rule.”

Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, loc. 46818