Collection created through a Samuel S. Fels Community Fellowship Grant in 2003 of over 300 book and periodical illustrations from the 16th - to 19th -centuries depicting all aspects of African American history and life.

Images range in date from 1595 (Giralomo Benzoni, Americae Pars Quinta) to 1914 (John Wesley Cromwell, The Negro in American History) and include views from 17th through 19th centuries travel and history texts of the social life and agricultural, industrial, and craft work of African peoples; graphics from the antislavery movements in France, Great Britain, and the United States detailing the brutality of slave life and the violence of slave resistance; and a selection of racist caricatures and cartoons from the 19th century reflecting the growing denigration and dehumanizing of African Americans in the era’s American popular print culture.

Pages

A typical negro [graphic] / McPherson and Oliver del.
Three engravings accompanying the article "A Typical Negro." The text identifies them as "portraits" of Gordon, a fugitive Mississippi slave who joined the Union army in Baton Rouge. According to the unnamed author, the engravings were taken from photographs by McPherson and Oliver. The engraving on the left bears the title "Gordon as he entered our lines." It shows Gordon sitting on a stool with his hands folded on his lap and one leg crossed over the other. His clothing is frayed and tattered, and he wears no shoes. As the author explains, Gordon "entered our lines, with clothes torn and covered with mud and dirt from his long race through the swamps and bayous, chased as he had been for days and nights by his master with several neighbors and a pack of blood-hounds; . . . ." The middle engraving is titled "Gordon under medical inspection." Here, Gordon is seated on a stool with his bare back facing the viewer. The image offers a detailed view of the wounds and scars that cover his back. As the author commented, the engraving "shows him as he underwent the surgical examinations previous to being mustered into the service -- his back furrowed and scarred with the traces of a whipping administered on Christmas day." The portrait on the right is titled "Gordon in his uniform as a U.S. soldier." It shows Gordon in full military uniform, with all of his gear and his musket. This engraving, the author notes, "represents him in United States uniform, bearing the musket and prepared for duty.", Illustration in Harper's Weekly, vol. 7, no. 340 (July 4, 1863), p 429., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Fugitives.
Uncle Peter putting the chickens in the window [graphic].
Egraving accompanies a fictional episode described in Chapter XIV, "Isabel's Winter." It features Uncle Peter, a former slave of the late Mr. Courtenay, an extremely kind master, whose family fell into dire poverty after his death. Although Uncle Peter has a new master, his ongoing affection for the members of the Courtenay family, who were struggling to feed themselves during a long winter, led him to secretly deposit two chickens inside their window., Illustration in Charles Peterson's The Cabin and Parlor: or, Slaves and Masters (Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson. Stereotyped by George Charles. Printed by King & Baird, c1852), p. 158., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
View of cotton plantation and gen [sic] in West Indies in 1764 [graphic] / F. Fuchs sc.
According to the title, the image is set in the West Indies in 1764. The lithograph accompanies a brief discussion of the history of cotton cultivation in the New World. The featured plantation is situated near the coast, and three ships (presumably trading vessels) are visible in the background. In the right foreground, a slave picks cotton from a plant and places it in a basket. Behind him, another slave carefully cleans the picked cotton. At the far left, a female slave operates an early cotton gin, and two men pack large sacks of finished cotton. Two full sacks of cotton occupy the left foreground; one bears the label "7 No. 120 / P.R.M.", Plate in the Report on the Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co. for E. Barksdale, State Printer, 1854), plate VIII, p. 140., Engraving is based upon a print executed by Prevost and published in the first volume of Diderot's Encylcopedia (Paris: 1762) under the title "Oeconomie Rustique, Culture et Arsonnage du Coton.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
View of Negroes washing for diamonds at Mandango on the River Jigitonhonha in Cerro do Frio, Brazil. [graphic].
According to Mawe, Mandango was the "greatest of the diamond works," and employed "about a thousand negroes." (p. 219) Here, under the supervision of four overseers, numerous slaves work one next to another in a long line. Each slave is bent deep over his individual trough, and rakes through sediment in search of diamonds. As Mawe explained,"there is no particular regulation respecting the dress of the negroes: they work in the clothes most suitable to the nature of their employment, generally in a waistcoast and a pair of drawers, . . . . While washing they change their posture as often as they please, which is very necessary, as the work requires them to place their feet on the edges of the trough, and to stoop considerably." (p. 225), Frontispiece for John Mawe's Travels in the Interior of Brazil (London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster-Row, 1812)., Engraving is probably the work of J.G. Warnicke who completed another large plate showing a mining scene set in the bed of the River Jigitonhonha (p. 220)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Kidnapping [graphic] / Alex Rider del. ; Goodman & Piggot sc.
Engraving is set in 1815 in Washington, DC, where a group of bound slaves passes in front of the burned-out Capitol building en route to Georgia. Two allegorical figures, one of whom represents Liberty, float on a smoke cloud above the building. The frontispiece relates to Torrey's musings as to whether "the Sovereign Father of all nations" permitted the burning of the Capitol as a "fiery, though salutary signal of his displeasure at the conduct of his Columbian children, in erecting and idolizing this splendid fabric as the temple of freedom, and at the same time oppressing with the yoke of captivity and toilsome bondage, twelve of fifteen hundred of their African brethren (by logical induction), making merchandise of their blood, and dragging their bodies with iron chains, even under its towering walls." Torrey then commented, "Yet it is a fact, that slaves are employed in rebuilding this sanctuary of liberty.", Frontispiece for Jesse Torrey's A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery, in the United States (Philadelphia: Published by the author. John Bioren, printer, 1817)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Images from the Slave Trade.
"Virginia hoe-down" [graphic] / Dallas del.
Aboard a steamer on the Mississippi River, a black deck-hand and a fiddler hold their own "Virginia hoe-down." The engraving accompanies T.B. Thorpe's "Remembrances of the Mississippi," and corresponds with a passage in which he describes the festive, light-hearted, and "happy" nature of "the negroes of the Mississippi." "With professional boat-men," Thorpe wrote," they are always favorites, and at night, when the 'old ark' is tied up, their acme of human felicity is a game of 'old sledge,' enlivened by a fiddle. On such ocassions the master of the instrument will touch off the 'Arkansas traveler,' and then gradually sliding into a 'Virginia hoe-down,' he will be accompanied by a genuine darkie keeping time, on the light and fantastic heel-and-toe tap." (p. 37) As the deck-hand dances and the fiddler plays, two boatmen play cards and a third looks on., Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 12, no. 67 (December 1855), p. 38., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Von den Innwohnern des Königreichs Loango, auch von den Anziguern, auss dem V. Capitel dess ersten Buchs [graphic].
Engraving is set in the Kingdom of Loango. On the left, a man belonging to the peoples formerly called the Bramas defends himself against a member of the Antique nation, a people known for their cannibalism. On the right, another member of the Antique nation chops up a decapitated corpse. Human limbs and various body parts hang from a structure in the background., Plate 12 in Duarte Lopes's Regnum Congo hoc est: warhaffte vnd eigentliche Beschreibung dess Königreichs Congo in Africa vnd deren angrentzenden Länder darinnen der inwohner Glaub Leben Sitten vnd Klendung wol vnd aussführlich vermeldet vnd angezeigt wirdt (Getruckt zu Franckfort am Mayn: durch Matthias Becker in Verlegung Hans Dietherich vnd Hans Israel von Bry, im Jahr M.D.C.IX. [1609]), n.p., Caption reads: "Dieses Völcklein dess Königreichs Loango, so vor zeiten Bramas genennet waren / vergleichen sich fast in allem mit den aus Congo, so ihre Nachbawren sennd / allein sie haben für ihre Rüstung nichts als lange Schilde / welche fast den ganzen Menschen bedecken / unnd in der andern Handt ein langen Pfeil mit einem langen breiten Ensen / fast wie ein Knöbelspiess / in der mitte hat has Gehölz einen runden Knopff / damit sie ihn fassen: Tragen auch Dolche welche sennd fast wie die Ensen an gemelten Spiessen. Aber diesem Königreich Loango, wohnen die Völcker Anzigues, so da in Menschenfresseren all andere wilde Nationen ubertreffen / dann sie ihre Merzigen von Menschenfleisch so gemein under ihnen haben / als wir hie aussen von allerlen Viehe / und das nicht von ihren Feinden / wie andere Indianer / sondern von ihren eigenen Freunden und Gesinde / wie in der Historien weitter zu lesen ist. Ihre Wehren sennd kleine Bögen und Pfeil / auch haben sie Arte mit kleinen Stielen / wie in dieser Figur zu sehen / mit welchen sie alle Schüsse des Pfeils mit einer grossen behendigkeit abzuwenden wissen / umb den Leib sennd sie umbgürtet mit breitten Ledern Riemen / drener Finger brent / von dicker Elendshaut / u. Sonsten sennd sie in allen den abgemeldten gleich.", The above can be translated approximately as follows: "These people of the Kingdom of Loango, formerly called the Bramas / resemble in almost all respects the people of the Congo, their neighbors / for arms, they have nothing more than a large shield / which almost covers them entirely / and in the other hand they have a long shaft with a long, pointed tip / almost like a spear / in the middle of the wooden shaft is round knob / so that it can be held: [They] also wear a dagger, whose tip is almost like that of the shaft. But in the Kindgom of Loango also live the Antiques, who surpass all other primitive nations in their cannibalism / . . . . /, for they eat not only their enemies, but also their friends and servants / as can be further read about in stories. Their weapons are bows and arrows / and also another sort / as can be seen in this engraving / which they use with great agility to protect themselves from arrows / around their waists they wear wide leather straps / their finger burns / from thick "Elendshaut" (difficult to translate -- "Elend" means suffering or misery, and "Haut" means skin), / and otherwise they resemble in all respects those described above.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Von den Weibern in Monomotapa, auss dem IX. Capitel dess andern Buchs [graphic].
In the foreground, a woman from Monomotapa stands with her bow and arrow. Behind her, two other women burn off the left breast of a third woman, so that it does not interfere with her ability to shoot an arrow. In the background, a battle is waged between the Monomotapa women and a group of male warriors., Plate 14 in Duarte Lopes's Regnum Congo hoc est: warhaffte vnd eigentliche Beschreibung dess Königreichs Congo in Africa vnd deren angrentzenden Länder darinnen der inwohner Glaub Leben Sitten vnd Klendung wol vnd aussführlich vermeldet vnd angezeigt wirdt (Getruckt zu Franckfort am Mayn: durch Matthias Becker in Verlegung Hans Dietherich vnd Hans Israel von Bry, im Jahr M.D.C.IX. [1609]), n.p., Caption reads: "Diese Weiber sennd under dem Kenser Monomotapa / welcher ein mächtiger Kenser ist / unnd viel Könige under sich hat / welche ihm bissweilen viel zu schaffen geben / derhalben er sich allezeit mit einem grossen Heer Kriegsvolck versehen muss / under welchen sennd die besten die Legionen dieser Weiber / welche von Jugend auss zum Krieg abgerichtet sennd / welche auch auss der uralten Amazoer art ire lincke Brust abbrennen / damit sie ihnen am schiessen nicht hindern. Ihre Wehren sennd Bogen und Pfeil / sennd gute und geschwinde Schützen / auch sehr standthafft unnd unversagt. Diese Weiber haben eine eigene Landschafft zubewohnen / so ihnen von irem Kenser eingegeben ist: Doch zu einer gewissen zeit gesellen sie sich zu den Männern / welche sie ihres gefallens ausssuchen: Und so sie etwan einen jungen Knaben geberen / so schicken sie denselben den Männern heym / so sie aber Mägdlein geberen / so behalten sie dieselbigen sich / und richten sie zum Krieg abe.", Portions of the caption can be translated approximately as follows: "These women are under the Kenser [?] Monomotapa / which is a powerful Kenser / to which many kings belong / which up until now has accomplished much / . . . . / . . . . / from their youth, the women are trained for war / and following the ancient tradition of the Amazoer, they burn off their left breast / so that it does not infere with their ability to shoot. Their weapons are bows and arrows / . . . . / . . . . These women have their own area in which to live / so that they are surrounded by their Kenser. But at certain times they also socialize with men / . . . and sometimes a son is born, who is sent back to the men, but when a daughter is born, she is kept and trained for war.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Von denen so Biagas genannt werden, im IX. Capitels des andern Buchs [graphic].
Foreground shows three men belonging to the Biaga nation. Two sleep behind their shields; the third stands with his shield, dagger, club, and arrow. In the background, Biagas use thier shields to protect themselves from their enemies' arrows., Plate 13 in Duarte Lopes's Regnum Congo hoc est: warhaffte vnd eigentliche Beschreibung dess Königreichs Congo in Africa vnd deren angrentzenden Länder darinnen der inwohner Glaub Leben Sitten vnd Klendung wol vnd aussführlich vermeldet vnd angezeigt wirdt (Getruckt zu Franckfort am Mayn: durch Matthias Becker in Verlegung Hans Dietherich vnd Hans Israel von Bry, im Jahr M.D.C.IX. [1609]), n.p., Caption reads: "Diese Völcker wohnen umb den ersten See dess Fluss Nili / ist ein unbarmherzig / Mörderisch und räubersiches Völck / grosser länge und statur / eines abscheulichen Anblicks / schwarzer Farb. Ihre Waffen / sind Kolben / Pfeil / Dolchen / Spiess und grosse Schilde / hinter welchen sie sich auch lägern / oder sich mit bedecken für den Schoss dess Pfeils / sie gehen gar nackend / fressen auch Menschenfleisch / die Backen und Leffzen haben sie auffgeschlizt / wenden das weisse an den Augen heraus / und stellen sich auss das ungeherst so ihnen möglich ist / ihre Feinde damit zu erschröcken / wie in der Historien weitläusstig zu sehen.", Caption can be translated approximately as follows: "These people [i.e., the Biagas] live near the first lake of the Nile / they are an unmerciful / murderous and rapacious people / of great height and stature / intimidating appearance / and black color. Their weapons / are clubs / arrows / daggers / spears and large shields / under which they sleep / or with which they protect themselves from arrows / they wear nothing / are also cannibals / they cut out the cheeks and lips / they take they whites' eyes out / and act monstrously to frighten their enemies / as can be read about futher in the accounts.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
The voyage of the Sable Venus, from Angola, to the West Indies [graphic] / Stothard, T. del. ; Grainger, W. sc.
Inspired by mythological imagery, the engraving features the Sable Venus from Angola, who is represented by a stately black woman in a decorative loin-cloth, and presented in a squarely frontal view. She is surrounded by cherubs waving feathers, Cupid with his bow and arrow, and the figure of Poseidon, who flies the British flag. The Sable Venus rides to the West Indies on a lush sea-chariot drawn by two sea-creatures, whose path she steers with her reins., Frontispiece for Bryan Edward's The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies, Plates (London: Printed for John Stockdale, Piccadilly, M.DCC.XCIV, [1794])., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project.
Vue de Ben dans le pays de Cayor près Gorée [graphic].
Engraving is set in the village of Ben in the Kingdom of Cayor (Senegal). Armed with swords, long spears, and other weapons, African slave-traders capture a mother and her three small children. In the background, two traders attack another village resident. The image includes villagers' cottages, and the central scene is framed by elements of the lush, hilly landscape., Double-page illustration in René Geoffroy de Villeneuve's L'Afrique, ou Histoire, meours, usages et coutumes des africains: Le Sénégal (Paris: Nepveu, libraire, passage des Panoramas, no. 26, 1814), vol. 3, p. 56., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from the Slave Trade.
Vue de la montagne de Cabende prise au midi, et deuil du masouc, Andris Poucouta, macaye [graphic] / Dessiné d'après nature, par G.P. ; Michel sculpt.
The engraving shows the funeral of a well-known man who died during Grandpré's stay in the area. The image is accompanied by Grandpré's description of the event, an approximate translation of which reads as follows: "The black Congolese bury their dead, but mourn them a long time before burying them; since the funeral is the day the mourning period comes to an end, it is consecrated to rejoicing. Therefore, the burial of a Congolese man is not a somber affair, and everyone rejoices . . . .The dead man is placed on a bed of honor, and placed in the middle of a large courtyard, under a tent which contains his finest objects . . . ." (p. 141-44), Fold-out plate in L. de Grandpré's Voyage à la côte occidentale d'Afrique: fait les années 1786 et 1787; contenant la description des moeurs, usages, lois, gouvernement et commerce des États du Congo, fréquentés par les Européens, et un précis de la traite des Noirs, ainsi qu'elle avait lieu avant la Révolution française; suivi d'un voyage fait au cap de Bonne-Espérance, contenant la description militaire de cette colonie (Paris: Dentu, imprimeur-libraire, Palais du Tribunat, galeries des bois, no. 240, an IX --., 1801), vol. 1, p. 142., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Vue de la montagne de Cabende, prise au nord, et Enterrement du mafoue, Andris Poucouta, macaye [graphic] / Dessiné d'après nature, par G.P. ; Michel sculpt.
The engraving shows the funeral of a well-known man who died during Grandpré's stay in the area. The image is accompanied by Grandpré's description of the event, an approximate translation of which reads as follows: "The engraving show will give a precise idea of these funerals. The coffin that carried him was at least 20 feet long by 14 feet high and 8 feet thick. It was surmouted by a small head which represented the dead man. They took a year to bury and mourn him . . . Such was its weight that no one would have been able to take him to his tomb, over one league from his house. Over 500 boys were on these ropes at a time; everything brok several times and it was an incredibe task to take him to his interment spot. The wheels, of one single piece of wood, got stuck in the ground, so they had to use something for a path. It didn't move without difficulty, and the axles broke often." (p. 152-53), Fold-out plate in L. de Grandpré's Voyage à la côte occidentale d'Afrique: fait les années 1786 et 1787; contenant la description des moeurs, usages, lois, gouvernement et commerce des États du Congo, fréquentés par les Européens, et un précis de la traite des Noirs, ainsi qu'elle avait lieu avant la Révolution française; suivi d'un voyage fait au cap de Bonne-Espérance, contenant la description militaire de cette colonie (Paris: Dentu, imprimeur-libraire, Palais du Tribunat, galeries des bois, no. 240, an IX --., 1801), vol. 1, p. 152., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Vue des montagne à l'est du Bihé [graphic] / Dessine d'ap. nat. par le voyageur Douville et lithé par Mr. B. ; Lith. de Engelmann.
Mountainous landscape rendered from the Canjungas River near Bihé (now Kuito) in central Angola. In addition to various landscape elements, the image includes a man in a small rowboat, and three huts on the river's edge., Plate 12 in Jean-Baptiste Douville's Voyage au Congo et dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique equinoxiale: fait dans les années 1828, 1829 et 1830 (A Paris: Chez Jules Renouard, libraire, rue de Tournon, n. 6; Imprimé chez Paul Renouard, rue Garencière, n. 5, 1832)., Caption underneath the image reads: (Prise sur les bords de la rivière Canjungas près Bihé capitale de l'etat de ce nom.), Lithographer probably Boulanger [i.e. Mr. B.], for he executed other plates in Douville's volume., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Vue du camp du voyageur Douville quand il passe le fleuve Couango, chez le Soba Bakal [graphic] / Dessine d'après nature par Mr. Douville et lithé par Boulanger ; Lith. de Engelmann.
Depiction of Douville's camp on the edge of the Couango River in modern Angola. The camp consists of a number of small huts, as well as a larger, grander one, from whose thatched roof a flag waves. A number of people, and a few animals, appear on the outskirts of the camp. Four boats sail along the river, and two other camps can be seen in the background., Plate 16 in Jean-Baptiste Douville's Voyage au Congo et dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique equinoxiale: fait dans les années 1828, 1829 et 1830 (A Paris: Chez Jules Renouard, libraire, rue de Tournon, n. 6; Imprimé chez Paul Renouard, rue Garencière, n. 5, 1832)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
[W stands for woman] [graphic].
Image is accompanied by a verse, which begins as follows: "W Stands for Woman. In Slavery-life, / Full many are mothers, but no one is wife./." The presence of an auctioneer in the background suggests that the setting is a slave auction. In the foreground, a slaveowner whips the bare back of a female slave. The woman kneels on the ground; her hands are raised over her head, and her wrists are fastened to a post. To the right, another slaveowner leads away a small child, presumably that of the woman., Illustration in Abel C. Thomas's Gospel of Slavery (New York: Published by T.W. Strong, 1864), n.p., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Washington and his servant [graphic].
Illustration included in Chapter II, "First Years of the Constitution." It shows President George Washington walking on a cobblestone sidewalk with his black manservant, who follows a few steps behind him. Image appears in the context of a discussion of Washington's taste for fashion and "courtly etiquette," and it relates to the following passage: "When he walked the streets his body-servant in livery followed him at respectful distance." Carrying a walking-stick, the well-dressed Washington wears breeches, a dark vest and waistcoat, and a bicorne, a type of hat commonly worn by intellectuals. His servant carries his dark-colored overcoat. The servant himself wears a lighter suit and a tricorne., Engraving in Charles Coffin's Building the Nation: Events in the History of the United States from the Revolution to the Beginning of the War between the States (New York: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square, 1883), p. 37., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
The way a Virginian treated a New Englander [graphic].
According to an accompanying text, the illustration depicts an incident that occurred in New Bedford, Massachusetts, c. 1818-23. The scene is set in a New Bedford "victualling cellar" kept by the black man at the left. In the company of a local constable (right), a visiting Virginian (center), has seized a pair of tongs and is assaulting the man. As the text explains, the Virginian, "who coveted his neighbor's body and soul," ordered the man to be arrested on a fictitious debt charge. The action was dismissed, and the Virginia was ultimately arrested for assaulting the black inn-keeper., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 27., Caption underneath the image reads: "Many of the northern States have refused to grant to their own citizens a trial by jury, lest slaveholders should have too much trouble in stealing men. Massachusetts, and New Jersey are the only exceptions.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
The way they "catch" men in Pennsylvania [graphic].
Two armed, uniformed authorities shoot at two escaped slaves in Cambria county, Pennsylvania., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 25., Caption underneath the image reads: "These men having FELT the horrors of slavery, fled to Cambria county, Pa., in April, 1837. Being pursued, one of them said he would die before he would be taken. They were shot and wounded, and then were taken with great difficulty.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
The "West Point," the second locomotive built in the United States for actual service [graphic].
Ilustration shows the "West Point" during its first excursion trip or "trial of speed." The train was conducted by Stephen Lee Alison, who is shown with a African American assistant. Behind them, an African American man rides on the "barrier car," which consists of six bales of cotton strapped down by hoop-irons. (Such cars helped protect passengers from steam and hot water.) The next car is occupied by a "well-known colored band of Charleston" (p. 28), while the final car carries white passengers., Fold-out illustration in William H. Brown's The History of the First Locomotives in America: Together with other Valuable and Interesting Information from Original Documents, and the Testimony of Living Witnesses (Philadelphia: Barclay & Co., Publishers, No. 21 North Seventh Street, c1877), p. 28., Caption below the illustration reads: "The 'West Point' was built at the West Point Foundry Works, in New York City, for the South Carolina Railroad, forwarded to Charleston by ship Lafayette, and after several experimental trials, in February, 1831, made the first excursion trip, as above, on Saturday afternoon, March 5, 1831. (See extract from Charleston Courier.), Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
What has the North to do with slavery? [graphic].
Image is set in the North. It appears to show Southern slaveowners forcibly removing escaped slaves from their homes, and returning them into their custody., Title page illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838)., Two captions underneath the image read: "What has the North do to with slavery?" and "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
When slaves are purchased by the planters; they are generally marked on the breast with a red hot iron. [graphic].
A slaveowner uses a hot iron to brand a male slave's breast. Two other male slaves wait to be branded as well. A ship is visible in the background, possibly suggesting that the three had been purchased immediately beforehand., Illustration in Thomas Branagan's Penitential Tyrant (New York: Printed and sold by Samuel Wood, 1807), p. 274., Engraving attributed to Alexander Anderson., Images in this work derived from oral testimony given before the British Parliament's Select Committee Appointed to Take the Examination of Witnesses Respecting the African Slave Trade originally published as An Abstract of the Evidence Delivered Before a Select Committee of the House of Commons in the Years 1790, and 1791; on the Part of Petitioners for the Abolition of the Slave-Trade (London: printed by James Phillips, 1791). Images also issued in a number of other printed works including Remarks on the Methods of Procuring Slaves with a Short Account of Their Treatment in the West-Indies (London: printed by and for Darton and Harvey, no. 66 Gracechurch Street MDCCXCIII (1793); Sclaven-Handel (Philadelphia: Gedruckt fur Tobias Hirte, bey Samuel Saur, 1794); Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender auf das Jahr 1797 (Balitmore: Samuel Saur 1796); Injured Humanity: Being a Representation of What the Unhappy Children of Africa Endure from Those Who Call Themselves Christians... (New York: printed and sold by Samuel Wood, no. 362, Pearl Street, between 1805 and 1808); and The Mirror of Misery, or, Tyranny Exposed (New York: printed and sold by Samuel Wood, 1807) and later editions issued in 1811 and 1814., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
[Whip and paddle] [graphic].
Set in a barn or work space, the illustrations shows an unclothed male slave who hangs from his wrists. To the right, a white overseer raises his whip. To the left, another white man holds the long handle of a paddle between his teeth. Rolling up his shirt sleeves, he prepares to participate in the beating. Further to the left, another white man violently restrains a slave who lies face down on the floor., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 23., Caption underneath the image reads: "Sometimes a slave is tied up by the wrists, while the ancles [sic] are fastened to a staple in the floor. In this position, they are punished with the whip or with the paddle. This is an instrument of torture bored full of holes, each hole raising a blister.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Whipping with the paddle, as witnessed by the author [graphic].
Image shows the type of event that Watson witnessed regularly while in the custody of a slave-trader named Mr. Denton. As Watson explained, "I was not sold for several weeks, thought I wished to be the first, not wishing to witness his cruelty to his slaves any longer; for if they displeased him in the least, he would order them to be stripped, and tied hand and foot together. He would then have his paddle brought, which was a board about two feet in length and one inch in thickness, having fourteen holes bored through it, about an inch in circumference. This instrument of torture he would apply, until the slave was exhausted, on parts which the purchaser would not be likely to examine." Correspondingly, in this scene, Denton beats a man who is tied to an upright pole in such a manner that he is forced to lie on his side on the ground in a fetal position. A child cries in the background; two potential purchasers approach., Illustration in Henry Watson's Narrative of Henry Watson: a Fugitive Slave (Boston: Bela Marsh, 1850), p. 11., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
The whitewasher [graphic].
Illustration shows a familiar Philadelphia character: a black, female whitewasher. The woman is dressed in work-clothes and coarse shoes; her sleeves are rolled-up and the illustrator emphasizes her muscular forearms. According to the accompanying text, the bucket on the floor contains a mixture of lime and water, with a little salt and indigo to make it clear. In the course of her work, the whitewasher dips long-handled brushes (like those seen here) into the mixture and rubs it onto the walls for cleaning., Illustration in City characters, or, familiar scenes in town (Philadelphia: Geo. S. Appleton; New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1851), p. 12., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Women and social class; the Gold Coast [graphic] / Chedel, sc.
The engraving is included in Chapter III, "Negres du Royaume de Juida. Leur figure, leur habillement, leur caractere & leur nourriture." It shows, from left to right, an upper-class woman (Fig. 1), a female slave (Fig. 3), and two female servants (Fig. 2). They are dressed according to class: the upper-class woman wears a fringed dress and a comparatively elegent headdress; the servants wear simpler robes and head coverings; the slave wears a tunic around her waist, which leaves her breasts exposed, and her head is uncovered., Illustration in Histoire générale des voyages: ou, Nouvelle collection de toutes les relations de voyages par mer et par terre . . . (A Paris: Chez Didot, Libraire, Quai des Augustins, à la Bible d'or, M.DCC.XLIX, [1749]), vol. 14, p. 316., The key above the image reads: 1. Femmes de qualité, 2. Femmes de commun, 3. Esclaves., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
The wood-sawyer [graphic].
Illustration shows a familiar Philadelphia character: a black wood-sawyer. As the text explains, "This is a hard occupation, followed generally by coloured people. They are old men, and have little ones to support, so that they have to work very hard." Shown in full profile, this mature wood-sawyer carries an axe in his hand and a "Horse" on his back. According to the text, when the wood-sawyer cuts his logs, he puts them on this "curious-four legged machine," which is "very strong, and made of oak or hickory wood." Holding the logs down with one knee, the wood-sawyer cuts off one piece at a time., Illustration in City characters, or, familiar scenes in town (Philadelphia: Geo. S. Appleton; New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1851), p. 96., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
[Workers processing indigo] [graphic].
Illustration of the processing of indigo with captions describing the work. Captions read: The Negroes cutting ye indigo; the Negroes throwing ye indigo into ye water; a Negro stirring ye indigo in water; Negroes carrying indigo into chests or cafes to dry it; Overseer of ye Negroes; and Anil or indigo., Plate 35 in Pierre Pomet's A compleat history of druggs, written in French by Monsieur Pomet... illustrated with above four hundred copper cutts (London: printed for R. Bonwicke, William Freeman, Timothy Goodwin, John Walthoe, Matthew Wotton [and 5 others in London], 1712), page 90, book 5 and in later editions of the same work issued in 1725, 1737 and 1748., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project.
Wreck of the slave ship [graphic].
According to Hildreth's narrative, the plate shows a domestic slave ship that was caught in a storm while travelling down the Atlantic coast to Charleston. After the captain and crew fled in a jolly-boat, the slaves worked the pumps in the hopes of saving themselves. They were eventually rescued and brought to a jail in Norfolk, Virginia., Illustration in Richard Hildreth's The White Slave: or, Memoirs of a Fugitive (London: Ingram, Cooke, & Co., 227 Strand, MDCCCLII, 1852), p. 80., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Images from the Slave Trade.
[X stands for cross] [graphic].
Image is accompanied by a verse, which begins as follows: "X Stands for Cross. By the lusts of the flesh / Men open the wounds of the Saviour afresh, /." In the foreground of a wooded landscape, an overseer / slaveowner flogs the back of a male slave whose wrists are shackled and chained to a tree trunk. On a hill in the background, a Christ-figure hangs on a cross., Illustration in Abel C. Thomas's Gospel of Slavery (New York: Published by T.W. Strong, 1864), n.p., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
A Zoolu prophetess [graphic] / Drawn on stone by W. Bagg ; Printed by Graf & Soret.
Portrait image of a Zoolu (i.e, Zulu) prophetess whom Isaacs met during his travels. He described her as follows, "Her person . . . did not less attract my attention than the hostile attitudes and habiliments of her guards. Her head was partly shaved, as is the custom of the natives. Her hair was thick, and seemed besmeared with fat and charcoal.One eyelid was painted red, the other black; and her nose was rendered more ornamental than nature had designed it, by being also blackened by the same preparation." As he also noted, she carried a "stick or wand, with a black cow's tail tied to the end, which she flourished about with infinite solemnity." (p. 166-167). In the lithograph, the prophetess wears an ornate head-piece and ceremonial dress; she holds a small nosegay to her breast., Plate in Nathaniel Isaacs's Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa: Descriptive of the Zoolu Manners, Customs, etc. etc.: With a Sketch of Natal (London: Edward Churton, 26, Holles Street, 1836)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
A Zoolu warrior & his daughter [graphic] / Drawn on stone by W. Bagg ; Printed by Graf & Soret.
Portrait image of a Zoolu (i.e, Zulu) warrior and his daughter. Seated on a rock, the warrior holds his sword and three spears. His daughter stands at his side, resting her hand on his shoulder. She wears a necklace and a wrap around her hips., Frontispiece for volume one of Nathaniel Isaacs's Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa: Descriptive of the Zoolu Manners, Customs, etc. etc.: With a Sketch of Natal (London: Edward Churton, 26, Holles Street, 1836)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.

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