Prince Demah (c. 1745—March 1778) was an African American painter who was formerly enslaved and active in Boston in the late 1700s. In April 1777, at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Demah enlisted in the Massachusetts militia as a free man. The enlistment records show he identified himself as only “Prince Demah,” discarding the name of his former owner, a loyalist who fled to England in 1775 after a series of threatening incidents. Demah died of an unknown illness, likely smallpox, the following year. [Source: Wikipedia]
This is the sixth post in a series of Charlotte Mason picture study resources featuring black artists. For this one, I chose Prince Demah because we’re studying the 1700s in the upcoming school year (see Black History Books Covering Colonial America and Revolutionary War), and according to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Demah is “the only known enslaved artist working in colonial America whose paintings have survived.“ The resources available for studying this artist are scant, but I thought he would be a unique addition to the time period even if we don’t have enough info for a full term of study.
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Biographical Resources
I have a strong preference for using picture books and engaging narrative biographies when studying artists and composers. However, little is known about Prince Demah, and I have not been able to locate any biographies written about his life, so this is my first picture study that relies completely on online articles.
- Hingham Heritage Museum: Prince Demah, Portrait Painter
- The Magazine Antiques: Prince Demah Barnes: Portraitist and slave in colonial Boston
Relevant Videos
These videos are very informative. I learned a lot from them myself, so I recommend that you watch and decide whether to show your children or just narrate from them as your family studies Demah’s work.
- National Portrait Gallery: Prince Demah and the Profession of Portrait Painting
- Hingham Public Library: Creativity in Bondage (Prince Demah presentation begins at 31:15)
Prince Demah Picture Study Artist Prints
I couldn’t find an existing set of prints featuring Prince Demah’s work, so here is the set I prepped for my family: Prince Demah Picture Study Prints. I printed mine at the UPS Store on glossy cardstock.
Prince Demah Picture Study Lesson Plans
Though additional pictures not yet identified are suspected to exist, as of now, there are only three known surviving portraits by Demah. These plans are based on the prints from file linked above, and I plan to spend the rest of the term studying artist, Joshua Johnson (Plans coming soon!)
- Week 1: Share biographical information (Depending on your children’s ages, (1) narrate from the articles and videos shown above, (2) read all or parts of one article, (3) play the podcast or videos.
- Week 2: Share biographical information (Although info on his life is limited, I’m scheduling two weeks to share because I want to stick to our short lessons and I do plan to share one of the videos with my older kids.
- Week 3: Portrait of William Duguid – The Metropolitan Museum of Art (podcast episode 4)
- Week 4: Portrait of Christian Barnes and Portrait of Henry Barnes – I’m presenting both of these portraits to my children at the same time. The subjects are a married couple (Demah’s “owners”), and it makes sense to study them together. Find info on the pictures here: Hingham Heritage Museum: Prince Demah, Portrait Painter (same article listed above)
Just for Fun
I found this paint-by-number kit featuring the Portrait of William Duguid that I’m planning to get for my oldest kids. They did a similar project for Starry Night when we studied Van Gogh, and it was a huge hit!
Below is an interview with my family (including my kiddos!) and Paula Bagger, president of the Hingham Historical Society, as we discuss Prince Demah and Joshua Johnson.
If you’re able to locate additional worthwhile information on Prince Demah, please post in the comments so we can all enjoy what you’ve found.
You can find me on Instagram at @heritagemomblog. Hope to see you there!
Wow, what an amazing find! I can’t wait to incorporate this into our year! Thanks for sharing your work uncovering this!
So glad that you’re as into it as I am! I look forward to the day that more of his work may be found.
This was so interesting. Thanks for also sharing how you do a picture study.
I’m glad that you found it interesting. I wish we could find out even more about his life and work!
Thank you for your work in this area. It is SOOO needed to help our understanding of our (black) people’s contributions during the colonial era. I will add this to our studies of American History in the fall. With your permission, may I link this in a possible post for a homeschool coop?
I’d love for you to link to it! Thank you. The more people that can learn from it, the better.
Thank you for this gem of a post. I’m so excited to have two out of three of our artists for the 1650-1800 historical period we are studying this year be Black American painters! I almost cried for several reasons reading the article about Prince Dumah that you linked for the Barnes couple. It wasn’t an emotional piece, there’s just something deeper in me going on, as a woman with great great grandparents who were enslaved—even one who bore the child of her master (of whom I am a descendant).
Your effort to pull these studies together save me so much time in my planning. But more than that, they set an example before me—that I, too, can pull a term together like this on my own (some day). I don’t have to rely solely on the open-and-go studies that are limited in diversity, albeit abundantly available. Don’t get me wrong—I love and own them ALL from every site known to man that sells these picture study portfolios—and I plan to use them! But what a joy it is to feel released to study these underrated and underpromoted bonified masters!
I just nabbed the resource, “A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present”, recommended on your Joshua Johnson blog (before it becomes $1000.00 like the Six Black Masters book!) and I look forward to learning more about these fascinating and widely unknown artists.
You’re so welcome, Amanda! I get so excited when I see that other people are geeking out over the same people and subjects. The book you nabbed is something that will carry you all the way through your homeschooling years. It’s a treasure!