Sarah Mapps Douglass

Sarah Mapps Douglass
Born(1806-09-09)September 9, 1806
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedSeptember 8, 1882(1882-09-08) (aged 75)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting placeEden Cemetery, Collingdale, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Known forWriting;
paintings
SpouseWilliam Douglass
Parent(s)Robert Douglass
Grace Bustill
RelativesBustill family
A flower by Sarah Mapps Douglass, c.1833

Sarah Mapps Douglass (September 9, 1806 – September 8, 1882) was an American educator, abolitionist, writer, and public lecturer. Her painted images on her written letters may be the first or earliest surviving examples of signed paintings by an African American woman.[1] These paintings are contained within the Cassey Dickerson Album, a rare collection of 19th-century friendship letters between a group of women.[2]

Douglass was the first African American student at the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania[3] and was a founding member of the Female Literary Association and the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.[4]

  1. ^ Farrington, Lisa (2005). Creating Their Own Image. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN 0-19-516721-X.
  2. ^ African Americana Collection, The Library Company of Philadelphia.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bacon 28–49 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).