Abolitionist hero Frederick Douglass has been in the news a lot lately, partially because we just came out of Black History Month and partially because President Trump made some comments that implied he believed Douglass, who died in 1895, was still alive. We’ll be hearing even more about Douglass in the coming months because he’s making an appearance in Underground, WGN America’s series about the Underground Railroad.

Portraying Douglass in the 4/5 episode is none other than John Legend. EW has the first photo of the actor/musician in character as well as a brief interview. “[Douglass] understood the importance of strategy,” Legend says. “He understood the power of image and of story to humanize the slaves and to show how evil the institution was. If it weren’t for him showing the human worth of slaves, we might not have seen abolition happen when it did.” He adds that Douglass’ story is important to understand current civil rights battles. Check out the photo of Legend in character as Douglass below.