Yarrow Mamout was a well-known ex-slave who lived in Georgetown. Jim Johnston was captivated by the 1822 painting of Yarrow at the Georgetown library and describes the three years he spent uncovering the history of the man and why two artists, Charles Willson Peale and James Alexander Simpson, did portraits of him. The Peale painting has been called “the most sensitive” early portrait of an African American.

For more information about the Black History Month program, call 240-777-0240. Free, no registration required.

Sponsored by Friends of the Library, Twinbrook Chapter.