Joshua Johnson (born c. 1763; died c. 1830) Though Joshua Johnson was born into slavery, he eventually became Baltimore’s most recognized free, Black painter of the 19th century. It is unknown if his enslaved, Black mother survived childbirth, but soon after his birth, Johnson was purchased by his free, white father, who made sure his son learned to read and write despite his own illiteracy. In 1782, his father manumitted (freed) his son, and Johnson began a blacksmith apprenticeship in Baltimore, married, and started a family. Around 1795, Johnson began painting portraits. As a biracial American, he was not allowed formal painting instruction. In a 1798 advertisement for portraits, Johnson described himself “as a self-taught genius.” Throughout his career, Johnson painted around 80 portraits of merchant families in Baltimore—almost all white people and both abolitionists and enslavers—illustrating the complexity of race relations in pre-Emancipation Maryland.