Details
Title Here is a picture of some slaves at work. [graphic] : Reward of merit. This may certify that [Mr. George Snow] by diligence and attention to study, merits the approbation of [his] friends and teacher.
Publisher [United States] : [publisher not identified]
Publisher UNITED STATES. 1850
Date [ca. 1830- ca. 1850]
Physical Description 1 print: wood engraving and letterpress; sheet 8 x 9 cm (3 x 3.5 in.)
Description School token illustrated with a scene showing enslaved men and women working in a tobacco field near a shack. In the right, three younger enslaved men hoe and gather a bundle of tobacco. In the left, an enslaved man stands and converses with an enslaved woman, seated on a bale. They each hold the handles of farming implements. A large sack and crate rest to the left of the bale. In the left background, an enslaved woman stands in the doorway of the shack. Wooden buildings and harvested fields are visible in the right background. The young men wear short sleeves and shorts. The women wear dresses and the man wears short sleeves and pants. Rewards of merit were popular with teachers during the 19th century and were given to reward students who had excelled in their school work. The addition of pictures made a reward of merit card a more special acknowledgement of a pupil’s success.
Notes Title from illustration caption and text printed on verso.
Date inferred from content of image and graphic medium.
Verso contains decorative border surrounding the text.
Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund.
Illustrated in Patricia Fenn and Alfred Malpa, Rewards of merit (Charlottesville, Va.: Ephemera Society of America, 1994), 118.
Description revised 2021.
Access points revised 2021.
RVCDC
Subject Child slaves -- United States.
Plantation life -- United States.
Racism in popular culture.
Slave labor -- United States.
Enslaved persons -- Social conditions -- United States.
Women slaves -- United States.
Enslaved children -- United States.
Enslaved labor -- United States.
Enslaved men -- United States.
Enslaved people -- Social conditions -- United States.
Enslaved women -- United States.
Genre Rewards of merit -- 1840-1850.
Wood engravings -- 1840-1850.
Letterpress works -- 1840-1850.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Rewards of Merit - Slaves [118555.D]
Accession number 118555.D