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.
Creator
Fuchs, F., lithographer
Date
[1854]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1854 Miss Sta 13287.O p 140, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2798
Engraving is one of several accompanying T.B. Thorpe's article "Cotton and its Cultivation." It shows seven African American plantation hands walking with large baskets of cotton on their heads. The men and women walk in a perfect line, leaving three or four paces between them. The illustration corresponds with the following passage, "Among the most characteristic scenes of plantation life is the returning of the hands at nightfall from the field, with their well-filled baskets of cotton upon their heads. Falling unconsciously "into line," the stoutest leading the way, they move along in the dim twilight of a winter day with the quietness of spirits rather than human beings." (p. 455-56), Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 8, no. 46 (March 1854), p. 457., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Creator
Orr, John William, 1815-1887, engraver
Date
[January 1854]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 8 n 46 March 1854 p 457, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2865
Engraving is one of several accompanying T.B. Thorpe's article "Cotton and its Cultivation." Set in a gin-house, it shows two plantation hands working at a cotton gin. While a man pushes cotton out of the "packing-room" (a loft space) and down a chute, a woman uses a rake-like tool to guide it through the gin. Standing nearby, a woman with a bucket on her head watches the process, and a man peeks into the gin-house through an open window. Two large baskets used for carrying cotton can be seen in the left foreground., Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 8, no. 46 (March 1854), p. 459., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Date
[January 1854]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 8 n 46 March 1854 p 459, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2866
