One of the few African American daguerreotypists whose careers have been documented,[1] Washington was born in New Jersey as a free person of color and in 1853 migrated to Liberia, where he later entered politics.
Augustus Washington was born in Trenton, New Jersey, as the son of a former slave and a woman who was said to be of South Asian descent.
He learned how to make daguerreotypes during his first year to finance his college education, but had to leave Dartmouth in 1844 due to increasing debts.
He wanted to move to Liberia to join thousands of other African Americans in leaving the United States to start a new free black nation in Africa where they would no longer be discriminated against and would enjoy equal rights.
[4] Washington opened a daguerrean studio in the Liberian capital Monrovia in 1853[5] and also traveled to the neighboring countries Sierra Leone, Gambia and Senegal.
[4] After many years of producing such daguerreotypes, Washington began to realize the social hierarchies at play in Liberia and the length of their dependence on the African natives for everything from food to supplies.