Patrick H. Reason

Patrick Henry Reason, first named Patrice Rison (March 17, 1816 – August 12, 1898), was one of the earliest African-American engravers and lithographers in the United States.

[3] Reason set up his own shop, where he engraved portraits and other images for anti-slavery and other books and journals, as well as for individuals.

His engravings include an 1835 version of the kneeling female slave; an 1840 portrait of United States Senator Benjamin Tappan (R-Ohio); the frontispiece portrait for the 1849 autobiography of Henry Bibb, a fugitive from slavery who became an abolitionist lecturer;[3] and the coffin plate of Daniel Webster.

[5] As a member of the New York Philomathean Society, Reason and others petitioned but were refused inclusion in an American fraternal organization, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

There he joined the firm of Sylvester Hogan, where he created jewelry and made plate engravings until his death in 1898.