Search results

Title: "The Sabbath among slaves"
Description: Engraving depicts the author's experience of the Sabbath among slaves. As Bibb explained, having no moral or religious instruction, slaves generally "resort to the woods in large numbers on that day to gamble, fight, get drunk, and break the Sabbath." This behavior, Bibb noted, was encouraged by the slaveholders, who viewed the slaves' activities as a form of entertainment, and who liked to watch them fight, "dance, 'pat juber,' sing, and play the banjo." To this end, the slaves were often provided with whiskey. Accordingly, the illustration shows a slaveholder pouring a libation into a slave's glass. In the background left, a group of white men and women observe the Sabbath festivities., Illustration in Henry Bibb's Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb: an American Slave (New York: Published by the author, 5 Spruce Street, 1849), p 23., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes of Slave Life.
Creator: Strong, Thomas W., engraver
Date: [1849]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1849 Bibb 65732.D p 23, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2778

Title: The slaves of Martinique
Description: Engraving accompanies Whittier's poem "Slaves of Martinique." It shows a slave couple enjoying a brief moment of rest in the shade. She is described as "Dark, but comely, like the maiden in the ancient Jewish song." He is described as " . . . the strong one and the many, with the vassal's garb and hue, / Holding still his spirit's birthright, to his higher nature true.", Engraving in John Whittier's Poems (Boston: Benjamin B. Mussey & Co., 1849), p. 372., The following lines appear underneath the image: "Beams of noon like burning lances, through the tree-tops flash and glisten. / As she stands before her lover, with raised face to look and listen.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator: Glover, De Lay, 1823-1863, engraver
Date: [1849]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1849 Whi 12099.O p 372, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2779

Title: The fugitive's song
Description: Backed by a large tree, a fugitive slave representing Frederick Douglass runs away from a river-bank, and heads in the direction of New England (as evidenced by the sign in the background right). The party in pursuit of him, two mounted figures and a pack of dogs, can be seen on the other side of the river in the distant background. The fugitive slave (Douglass) wears unsoiled white pants, a neat striped shirt, and no shoes; he carries a bundle on a stick., Sheet music cover for J. Hutchinson (lyrics) and J.M. White's (music), The Fugitive's Song (Boston: Published by Henry Prentiss, 33 Court St., 1845)., Dedication underneath the image reads: "Words / composed and respectfully dedicated, in token of confidential esteem to / Frederick Douglass / a Graduate from the / "Peculiar Institution" / For his fearless advocacy, signal ability and wonderful success in behalf of / his brothers in bonds. / (and to the fugitives from slavery in the ) / Free States & Canadas. / by their friend / Jesse Hutchinson Junr.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Fugitives.
Creator: Bouvé, Ephraim W., 1817-1897, designer
Date: [1845]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *Sheet Music Fugitive 8214.F, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2891

Title: Tread-wheel
Description: Under the overseer's whip, a group of Jamaican slaves power a large tread-wheel that is presumably used in sugar manufacturing. In the foreground, two slaves have collapsed from heat and exhaustion; they are tended to by others. To the left, another overseer flogs a slave while two white men look on. As Phillippo explained, the slave's labor, "under the fervent heat of a tropical sun, was indeed excessive, sufficient, during a comparatively short period of time, to expend the vigour and exhaust the spirits of the strongest and most energetic frame, inasmuch as they had to perform by manual operation those processes, which, in every other country, are performed by horses, oxen, and machinery." (p. 159-60), Illustration in James Phillippo's Jamaica: its Past and Present State (London: John Snow, Paternoster Row, MDCCCXLIII [1843]), p. 172, Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Date: [1843]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1843 Phill 7675.D p 172, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2777

Title: Barbarous treatment of two unfortunate females
Description: Illustration accompanies Miss Harrintgon's (allegedly true) account of her capture by two blacks in the parish of Concordia, Louisiana in 1842. Miss Harrington (standing in the middle) was kidnapped by two black men, Enoch and Joseph (seen at right), who forced their way into her home and murdered her father, Noah Harrington. Thereafter, the two men entered the home of Mr. George Todd, whom they also killed, and then proceeded to take his wife and seven-month old infant into captivity. (Mother and child are seen at left). With a young mulatto girl named Nelly Predello in tow, the two men led Miss Harrington, Mrs. Eliza Todd, and her child into a swampy forest, where they were held for six weeks. As Miss Harrington's narrative emphasizes, Nelly had originally thought that she would be aiding the two men in some sort of simple escape attempt, and she was dismayed to discover the true nature of their murderous plot. In this scene, Nelly protects the two women from their captors. As Miss Harrington wrote, whenever Nelly felt their lives jeopardized, she "would drop on her knees and beg of the blacks to desist, and in the meantime assuring them, 'that if the lives of the two unfortunate captives were thus to be cowardly sacrificed, their bullets would have first to pass through her body, before she would willingly permit them to reach those of the unfortunate victims!'" Eventually, Nelly aided in the women's rescue by a group of white men., Frontispiece for Miss Harrington's Narrative of the Barbarous Treatment of Two Unfortunate Females (New York: Printed for the publishers, 1842)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
Date: [1842]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Harr 78297.O frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2776

Title: [Slave and bald eagle in front of Capitol]
Description: Lying on the ground, a female slave holds and protects her small child. A large bald eagle is perched on the mother's back, and she turns to look at it. In the background, the U.S. Capitol is visible with a flag flying at full-mast., Front cover of the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1843 (New York: Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1842)., Accompanied by the following verse: "Oh, hail Columbia! Happy Land! / The cradle land of Liberty! / Where none but negroes bear the brand, / Or feel the lash of slavery. / Then let the glorious anthem peal! / And drown, 'Britannia rules the waves' -- / Strike up the song that men can feel -- / 'Columbia rules three million slaves!'", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1842]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Ame Ant 72750.O front cover, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2773

Title: [Slave and flag with black and white stars]
Description: Bound at the wrists and ankles, a male slave is tied -- with his arms over his head -- to a long flagpole. At the top of the pole is an American flag. The stars in the top three rows are white, while those in the bottom three are black., Back cover of the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1843 (New York: Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1842)., Accompanied by the following verse: "United States! Your banner wears /Two emblems -- one of fame; / Alas, the other that it bears / Reminds us of your shame. / The white man's liberty in types / Stands blazoned by your stars; / But what's the meaning of your stripes? / They mean you negro's scars.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1842]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Ame Ant 72750.O back cover, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2772

Title: Sale of estates, pictures and slaves in the Rotunda, New Orleans
Description: As the title suggests, the engraving shows a large auction in the New Orleans Rotunda. At separate podiums, three auctioneers simultaneously take bids on a painting (left), a family of slaves (center), and a manuscript (right). In the foreground, several traders lean and sit casually on barrels and crates as they watch the slave auction. Bidders for the painting and manuscript look somewhat more genteel. The engraver's emphasis the light streaming though the Rotunda's oculus may represent an ironic commentary on the events taking place within it., Frontispiece for volume one of James Silk Buckingham's The Slave States of America (London; Paris: Fisher, Son, & Co. Newgate St. London; rue St. Honoré, Paris [1842])., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Images from the Slave Trade.
Creator: Starling, J. M., engraver
Date: [1842]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Buc 10584.O v 1 frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2774

Title: Gang of slaves journeying to be sold in a Southern market
Description: Driven by mounted men with whips, a large procession of bound slaves travels down a shallow creek. Some of the slaves hold children in their arms; others carry baskets and bundles on their heads. A family of free blacks watches from the banking on the left., Illustrated plate in James Silk Buckingham's The Slave States of America (London; Paris: Fisher, Son, & Co. Newgate St. London; rue St. Honoré, Paris [1842]), vol. 2, p. 552., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Images from the Slave Trade.
Creator: Holl, F., engraver
Date: [1842]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Buc 10584.O v 2 p 552, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2775

Title: Amistad captives
Description: From top to bottom, the three profile portraits depict: Cinque, the leader of the Amistad revolt; Grabeau, second in command; and James Covey, the interpreter. The features of Cinque and Covey are rendered in some detail; Grabeau is represented by little more than a silhouette., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1841 (New York: Published by S.W. Benedict, 1841 [i.e. 1840]), p. 22-23., Title above the three portraits reads: "Description of Cinquez, Grab-Eau, and James Covey the Interpreter.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1840]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1840 Am Ant 65752.D p 22-23, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2771

Title: Truth shall make you free
Description: Image features a large allegorical figure representing Liberty, who stands in the center of the scene. Her raised left hand holds a book. In front of her and to the left, a male slave has broken free from his shackles and chains. Next to him, a black woman prays, and a black mother holds her infant child. At the right, a white girl teaches a group of black children to read the alphabet. An American flag flies in the background., Frontispiece for the Liberty Bell (Boston: For the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Fair, 1839)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Creator: Reason, Patrick Henry, 1816-1898, engraver
Date: [1839]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1839 Lib 66087.D frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2770

Title: [Liberator masthead, 1838]
Description: Divided into two halves, the masthead vignette contrasts the consequences of slavery and the benefits of emancipation. Scene to the left is a reworking of the original masthead illustration of 1831 showing a slave auction with a slave being whipped in the background and a capitol building adorned with a flag reading "Liberty." A common graphic strategy of abolitionists was to picture scenes of slavery alongside symbols of American freedom such as the capitol, the flag, etc. In this revised version, the slave auction is set on Freedom St., and joining it on the right is a scene showing emancipated slaves enjoying the benefits of freedom. Added vignette commemorates the abolition of slavery in the British colonies., Masthead from the Liberator, ed. William Lloyd Garrison (Boston: Published weekly at no. 25 Cornhill by Isaac Knapp), vol. VIII, no. 9 (March 2, 1838), p. 33., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [March 1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per L 21 1646.F v VIII n 9 March 2 1838 p 33, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2881

Title: The nation's act
Description: A free black man who has been kidnapped is auctioned before a crowd of white bidders. A small black child sits on the auction block. In the background, other kidnapped free blacks wait to be sold into slavery. A building marked "JAIL" is visible in the distant background., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 7., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 7, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2760

Title: What has the North to do with slavery?
Description: 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.
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 title page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2768

Title: John Bull's monarchy a refuge from Brother Jonathan's slavery
Description: Image criticizes a resolution adopted in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 10, 1828, which called for the President to initiate an agreement with the British Government whereby fugitive slaves taking refuge in Canada would be surrended to their masters, given proof of ownership., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 9., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 9, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2761

Title: Colored scholars excluded from schools
Description: Standing on the front steps of a school building, a schoolmaster prevents a free black woman and her two children from entering. A line of white children, however, enter the school without incident., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 13., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 13, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2762

Title: Colored schools broken up, in the free states
Description: Depicts an attack on a school established by Prudence Crandall in Caterbury, Connecticut that was destroyed by a white mob in September 1834. Image shows a mob of whites raiding, torching, and throwing cobblestones at a building whose sign reads "School for colored girls." At the left, two young girls exit the side door of the school., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 15., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 15, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2763

Title: A Northern freeman enslaved by Northern hands
Description: Image depicts an incident that occurred in the North (presumably, New York) in November, 1836. Peter John Lee, a free black man from Westchester, New York, was kidnapped by Tobias Boudinot, E.K. Waddy, John Lyon, and Daniel D. Nash, all of New York City, who gagged and chained him, and then hurried him away from his wife and children into slavery., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 19., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 19, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2764

Title: Emancipated slaves can take care of themselves
Description: At the left, the illustration depicts a free black man, or a "paid" laborer. He works vigorously with a hoe, and is dressed in a suit and top hat. At the right, a slave, or an "unpaid" laborer, is shown. He also works with a hoe, but unlike his counterpart, he is barely dressed, and looks weak and despondent., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 21., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 21, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2765

Title: Southern arguments to stop the mouths of Northern guests
Description: According to the caption, this domestic interior shows a Northern man who moved to the South and married into a slave-owning family. Seated at a lavish table, the man and his family enjoy the fruits of slave labor. Through the left-hand window, a slave is being whipped by an overseer. A few other slaves can be seen through the window on the right., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 23., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 23, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2766

Title: "Nuisances" going as "missionaries," "with their own consent"
Description: Illustration shows a group of free blacks being forcibly deported to Liberia. Standing in line, these Northern blacks wait to board the ship. A man who tries to flee is being chased by the authorities., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 29., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 29, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2767

Title: Section of a slave ship
Description: Plate includes three diagrams of a slave-ship. Top diagram is a cross-section of the ship's hold, viewed from the side. The small, shallow space in which slaves were transported lies between the deck and the main body of the hold. Diagram at the left is a detail of this space with its dimensions. (It was 3 feet, 5 inches in height.) Detail illustrates the manner in which slaves were packed into the ship, one next to another, with barely enough room to sit upright. Bottom diagram is an aerial view of the ship's deck with its dimensions., Plate at the front of Matthew Carey's Letters on the Colonization Society: And on its Probable Results; under the Following Heads . . . Addressed to the Hon. C.F. Mercer (Philadelphia: E.G. Dorsey, printer [May 30, 1838])., The caption below the image reads: "From Walsh's Notes of Brazil.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from the Slave Trade
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Car 75256.O plate I, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2769

Title: [Thomas Cooper]
Description: Image depicts Thomas Cooper, a Maryland slave who escaped to Philadelphia, where he settled, found work, married, and raised a family. In this scene, Cooper's former owner, having learned of his whereabouts, has seized and handcuffed him, and is taking him back to Maryland. His wife and children beg for his release in vain. According to the accompanying text, Cooper's Philadelphia employers had offered to pay the slaveowner a large sum in return for his release, but their offer was refused., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 19., Caption underneath the image reads: "Consider the desolation which would be brought upon YOUR family, if the head of it should be taken away. The slaves suffer, in such cases, FAR MORE than we, for they have few pleasures except those they derive from their companions in wo [sic].", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 19, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2753

Title: [Chain gang]
Description: Illustration shows seven male slaves in tattered clothing who are chained together by shackles around their necks. Holding shovels and other tools, they set off to work in a field., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 21., Caption underneath the image reads: "The slaves are sometimes chained together when they go to work in the fields, lest their love of liberty should induce them to make violent efforts to escape.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 21, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2754

Title: [Whip and paddle]
Description: 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.
Date: [1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 23, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2755

Title: The way they "catch" men in Pennsylvania
Description: 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.
Date: [1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 25, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2756

Title: The way a Virginian treated a New Englander
Description: 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.
Date: [1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 27, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2757

Title: Tearing up free papers
Description: A man restrains a free Southern black woman as another man destroys the papers that attest to her freedom. The woman's small child stands beside her. In the background, at least two figures are visible behind bars., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 7., Caption underneath the image reads: "In the Southern States, every colored person is presumed to be a slave, till proved to be free; and they are often robbed of the proof.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 7, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2750

Title: [Family ties broken up]
Description: A black man in tattered clothing is dragged away from his family by four white men acting on behalf of his purchaser. The man's wife and three small children have been purchased by another slaveholder, and the family will be separated., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 15., Caption underneath the image reads: "The purchaser of the husband has sent to have him dragged away. As he does not wish for the 'balance' of the family, they have been taken by different purchasers.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 15, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2751

Title: [Mother taken away]
Description: Having been sold by her former mistress ("a wicked woman, a slaveholder, and a member of the Presbyterian church") to a new owner, a Kentucky slave shrieks and cries as she is torn away from her two children, ages seven and nine. The woman's new owner smokes and calmly looks on., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 17., Verse underneath the image reads: "Ev'n her babes, so dear, so young, / And so treasured in her heart, / That the cords which round them clung, / Seemed its life, its dearest part; / These, ev'n these, were torn away! / These, that, when all else were gone, / Cheered the heart with one bright ray, / That still bade its pulse beat on!", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 17, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2752

Title: The runaway
Description: Full length, right profile view of a runaway slave dressed in a collared shirt and a buttoned jacket, and carrying a bundle on his back., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. III, no. VII (July, 1937), whole no. 31, p. 1., Small caption underneath the image reads: "This picture of a poor fugitive is from one of the stereotype cuts manufactured in this city for the southern market, and used on handbills offering rewards for runaway slaves.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Fugitives.
Date: [July 1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 16998.D v 3 n 7 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2860

Title: [The morning dream]
Description: Frontispiece accompanies Cowper's poem "The Morning Dream," which appears on the opposite page. The engraving features an allegorical figure representing Liberty/Britannia, who sailed westward to America "to make freemen of slaves." Shedding light "like the sun," this divine and beautiful figure "sung of the slave's broken chain, wherever her glory appeared." In accordance with the verse, two chained slaves kneel before her, praying for freedom. At the left, a slave-owner drops his whip. ("In his hand, as a sign of his sway, / A scourge hung with lashes he bore, / And stood looking out for his prey, From Africa's sorrowful shore. / But soon as approaching the land, / That angel-like woman he view'd, / The scourge he let fall from his hand, / With the blood of his subjects imbru'd."), Frontispiece for John Greenleaf Whittier's Poems Written during the Progress of the Abolition Question in the United States, between the Years 1830 and 1838 (Boston: Published by Isaac Knapp, No. 25, Cornhill, 1837)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Whi 51405.D frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2759

Title: [Instruments of torture]
Description: Illustration shows an "instrument of torture" used on Roper during his years of slavery. Of it, he wrote, this is a machine used for packing and pressing cotton. By it, he [i.e., the slave-owner Mr. Gooch] hung me up by the hands at letter a, a horse moving around the screw e, and carrying it up and down, and pressing the block c into the box d, into which the cotton is put. At this time, he hung me up for a quarter of an hour. I was carried up ten feet from the ground, when Mr. Gooch asked me, if I was tired. He then let me rest for five minutes, then carried me round again, after which he let me down and put me into the box, and shut me down in it for about ten minutes." (p. 52), Illustration in Moses Roper's A Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper, from American Slavery (London: Darton, Harvey, and Darton, 55, Gracechurch Street; and to be had of the author, at the Anti-Slavery Office, 18, Aldermanbury, Murrays, Mare Street, Hackney; Hudson, 18, Bull Street, Birmingham, MDCCCXXXVII [1837]), p. 51., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
Date: [1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Roper 101478.D p 51, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2758

Title: Intérieur de salle à manger à Ste. Marthe
Description: Dining room on the plantation of Ste. Marthe. As a planter dines with his family, a female slave serves them, while a male slave fans the family (?) with a contraption that swings from the ceiling., Plate in Voyage pittoresque dans le deux Ameriques (A Paris : Chez L. Tenr'e, libraire-éditeur, rue de Paon, 1; et chez Henri Dupuy, rue de la Monnaie, 11., M DCCC XXXVI. [1836]), p. 46., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Date: [1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1836 Orbi 6335.F p 46, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2748

Title: La Batugue à San-Paulo
Description: In an open, outdoor space, two couples dance to music performed by the two men at the left. One musician appears to play a percussion instrument, while the other seems to play a string instrument. The dancing women are bare-breasted, and some of their facial features correspond to racist stereotypes, particularly in the case of the woman closest to the right. On the left, a third woman sits underneath a pole that supports a straw roof. Some pieces of tropical fruit lie on the ground near her feet. Batugue, a type of dance still practiced today, is an Afro-Brazilian circle dance., Plate in Voyage pittoresque dans le deux Ameriques (A Paris : Chez L. Tenr'e, libraire-éditeur, rue de Paon, 1; et chez Henri Dupuy, rue de la Monnaie, 11., M DCCC XXXVI. [1836]), p. 210., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Date: [1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1836 Orbi 6335.F p 210, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2749

Title: The lips of the wise disperse knowledge
Description: Set in a school room, the image shows a white schoolmaster, who appears to be teaching a group of young African American boys to read. Holding books, the boys are grouped around him., Cover page of the Slave's Friend (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836), vol. 1, no. 1 (1836)., Accompanied by the caption: "The lips of the wise disperse knowledge. -- Prov. xv.7.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per S 63 54051.D v 1 n 1 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2884

Title: The poor mother
Description: Image portrays a distraught mother kneeling on a rock on the coast of Africa. She watches and gestures in vain as her children are ferried off in a boat by slavetraders., Illustration in the Slave's Friend (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836), vol. 1, no. 3 (1836), p 3., Image accompanied by a plea in verse-form, which begins as follows: "HELP! oh help! thou God of Christians / Save a mother from despair; / Cruel white-men steal my children, / God of Christians! hear my prayer.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per S 63 54051.D v 1 n 3 p 3, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2885

Title: The praying child
Description: Kneeling in a field, a child slave dressed in a loose smock clasps her hands together in prayer. A basket rests beside her., Cover page of the Slave's Friend (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836), vol. 1, no. X (1836)., Accompanied by the following verse: "Poor little slave! to thee was given / Thy simple, earnest trust in Heaven. / Pour out thy griefs to God above! / He hears thee with a Father's love.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per S 63 54051.D v 1 n X cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2886

Title: A slave-ship
Description: Engraving shows two slave-traders as they throw a slave overboard. Two other slaves struggle in the ocean. This woodcut is a slightly altered version of the same scene appearing in "The Liberator," January 7, 1832. The original text notes the ship is a Brazilian slaver. Brazil collected duty on all imported slaves, and slave ship captains tossed sickly and likely unsalable slaves overboard before arrival to avoid paying the duty on them., Illustration in the Slave's Friend (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836), vol. 1, no. X (1836), p. 14-15., Image is accompanied by a poem, which begins as follows: "Oh! I have don a cursed deed, / The wretched man replies, / And night and day, and every where, / 'Tis still before my eyes.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per S 63 54051.D v 1 n X p 14-15, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2887

Title: [Middle passage: instruments of restraint and torture]
Description: Engraving shows instruments of restraint and torture used during the Middle Passage. From top to bottom, it includes: iron hand-cuffs, iron shackles, a thumb press, and a speculum oris, an instrument originally used to open the mouths of lock-jaw patients. On slave-ships, it was used to force-feed slaves who refused to eat. The bottom diagram shows a cabin space that is 3 feet, 3 inches high; it shows manner in which enslaved Africans were forced to sit during the passage., Illustration in Lydia Childs's An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans (New York: Published by John S. Taylor, 1836), p. 21., Opposite page includes the following text: "The engraving on the next page will help to give a vivid idea of the Elysium enjoyed by negroes, during the Middle Passage. Fig A represents the iron hand-cuffs, which fasten the slaves together by means of a little bolt with a padlock. B represents the iron shackles by which the ancle [sic] of one is made fast to the ancle [sic] of his next companion. Yet even thus secured, they do often jump into the sea, and wave their hands in triumph at the approach of death. E is a thumb-screw. The thumbs are put into two rounds [sic] holes at the top; by turning a key a bar rises from C to D by means of a screw; and the pressure becomes very painful. By turning it further, the blood is made to start; and by taking away the key, as at E, the tortured person is left in agony, without the means of helping himself, or being helped by others. This is applied in case of obstinancy, at the discretion of the captain. I, F, is a speculum oris. The dotted lines represent it when shut; the black lines when open. It opens at G,H, by a screw below with a knob at the end of it. This instrument was used by surgeons to wrench open the mouth in case of lock-jaw. It is used in slave-ships to compel the negroes to take food; because a loss to the owners would follow their persevering attempts to die. K represents the manner of stowing slaves in a slave-ship.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1836 Chi S49622.D p 21, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2746

Title: [Consequences of emancipation]
Description: In the foreground center, a black man reads aloud from the Bible while a girl kneels and prays before him. In their immediatie proximity, a mother holds her two small children. Behind them, several figures perform various chores and tasks. A group congregates in the middle-ground, and what looks to be a representation of Monticello is visible in the background., Front cover of the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1837 (Boston: Published by N. Southard & D.K. Hitchcock, 1836)., Two captions appear underneath the image: "A sketch from God's description of the 'Consequences of Emancipation.' Psa. 58." and "We hold these truths to be self-evident -- that all men are created equal.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1836 Ame Ant 16996.D cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2745

Title: The humanity of the Africo-Americans
Description: The setting is St. Domingo. A slave brings a basket of provisions to his owners, Monsieur and Madame Baillon, and appraises them of an imminent revolt by other slaves. The loyal slave aids the couple, their daughter and son-in-law, and their two white servants in making an escape., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. III (March, 1836), whole no. 15, p. 1., Curator's note: Notice here the use of the term "Africo-Americans," used infrequently but persistently by some African Americans and abolitionists from at least the early 1830s through the Civil War period. Common usage of "blacks" and "Africans" was supplanted in the 1820s with "Negro" common among whites, and "Colored" among most African Americans. As in all the terms used to described black Americans over time, there is a nationalist-assimilationist dichotomy here, with "Africo-Americans" suggesting a separate nationality and culture, and "Colored" suggesting darker-hued members of the common American nation and culture., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [March 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 3 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2848

Title: The moral character of the Africo-Americans
Description: Set in New York, the image shows William Peterson, a black boy who prepares to rescue a white boy who has fallen through the ice while skating. Next him, a white boy supports another skater whom Peterson has saved from drowning. A few others continue to skate in the background., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. IV (April, 1836), whole no. 16, p. 1., Small caption underneath the image reads: "William Peterson -- The Heroic Colored Boy.", Curator's note: Notice here the use of the term "Africo-Americans," used infrequently but persistently by some African Americans and abolitionists from at least the early 1830s through the Civil War period. The common usage of "blacks" and "Africans" was supplanted in the 1820s with "Negro" common among most whites, and "Colored" among most African Americans. As in all the terms used to describe black Americans over time, there is a nationalist-assimilationists dichotomy at work here, with "Africo-Americans" suggesting separate nationality and culture, and "Colored" suggesting darker-hued members of the common American nation and culture., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [April 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 4 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2849

Title: A slave caught without a pass
Description: This night-time scene depicts an overseer, who, having come upon a slave who left his plantation without a pass, forces the slave to dance for the amusement of himself and his two companions. As the slave dances, the overseer cracks a whip at his feet., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. V (May, 1836), whole no. 17, p. 1., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [May 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 5 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2850

Title: The runaway
Description: In the center of the image, a black barber from Buffalo urges a white ferryman to launch the boat that will carry a runaway Georgia slave and his family across the Niagara River to Canada. Just as the boat leaves shore, the slave's master arrives on horseback. Brandishing a pistol, he attempts to prevent their passage., Caption title vignette in the Anti Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. IV [VI] (June, 1836), whole no. 18, p. 1., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Fugitives.
Date: [June 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 6 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2851

Title: "Incendiary pictures"
Description: This commonplace cut of a slave on the auction block was mass produced for use in southern newspapers to advertise slave sales. It appears in "The Anti-Slavery Record" as a stroke of irony. Opponents of abolition denounced the antislavery movement for its agitational pamphlets and newspapers, and particularly for its use of what opponents termed "incendiary pictures" of southern slavery. The editors note: "The cast from which it was taken was manufactured in this city, for the southern trade, by a firm of stereotypers, who, on account of the same southern trade, refuse to stereotype the Record, because it contained just such pictures! Now, how does it come to pass, that this said picture when printed in southern newspapers is perfectly harmless, but when printed in the Anti-Slavery Records is perfectly incendiary?", Illustration in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. VII (July, 1836), whole no. 19, p. 12., Small caption underneath the image reads: Who bids?, Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [July 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 7 p 12, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2852

Title: How can it be done?
Description: Image depicts a mob of slaveholders who are raiding an abolitionist press. Members of the mob are dragging off a broken printing press., Illustration in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. IX (September, 1836), whole no. 21, p. 1., Curator's note: This is one of several antislavery graphics depicting the proslavery assault on the antislavery movement and their demand for the suppression of antislavery literature. This and several other illustrations link antislavery agitation to first amendment freedoms., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [September 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 9 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2853

Title: A fact with a short commentary
Description: Lunging forward onto his left knee, a slaveowner points a double-barreled rifle at a male slave who is stretched out on the ground beneath him. Propping himself up with his left arm, the slave uses his right arm to gesture toward the slaveowner in a protective manner. The slaveowner's hat, which rests on the ground, and an overturned table in the background suggest that the action has proceeded quickly. In the background, the slave's child watches from the doorway of his hut., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. I (January, 1836), whole no. 13, p. 1., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [January 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 1 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2846

Title: History of the slave, James
Description: Image is set in the Philadelphia-area household of a family of freed and escaped slaves. Having located the family, the slaves' owner, shown in the center, has come with two assistants to reclaim a slave named James, the man who is being forced out of the door in the background right. James's mother, an elderly freed slave named Harriet, battles with her former owner in the center of the scene. She bears the breast she once used to nurse him and begs for mercy. Harriett's husband and James's wife appear to the left, while James and Harriett's newborn baby sleeps in a cradle to the right., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. II (February, 1836), whole no. 14, p 1., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [February 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 2 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2847

Title: Negres au travail
Description: Engraving accompanies Chapter IV, "Haiti.- Géographie. - Histoire." Under the supervision of two overseers with whips, approximately thirty slaves dig a trench that may be used to irrigate sugar cane fields. Swinging sharp hoes, the slaves stand in a line that stretches far into the background., Plate in Voyage pittoresque dans le deux Ameriques (A Paris : Chez L. Tenr'e, libraire-éditeur, rue de Paon, 1; et chez Henri Dupuy, rue de la Monnaie, 11., M DCCC XXXVI. [1836]), p. 22., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Date: [1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1836 Orbi 6335.F p 22, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2747

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