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- Title
- Leonard Parkinson, a Captain of Maroons
- Description
- Supposedly taken from life, this full-length, profile portrait shows Leonard Parkinson, the famous leader of the Maroons, the name given to Africans who escaped slavery in Jamaica (and throughout the Americas) and resisted European colonialism. Dressed only in light-colored, knee-length breeches, Parkinson grasps his rifle with both hands as he strides forward. A large dagger is suspended from his waist, and a fur-cover pouch is slung accross his body. The engraver has taken care to emphasis his muscularity., Frontispiece for the Proceedings of the Governor and Assembly of Jamaica, in Regard to the Maroon Negroes: Published by Order of the Assembly (London: Printed for John Stockdale, Piccadilly, M.DCC.XCVI. [1796])., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
- Creator
- Raimbach, Abraham, 1776-1843, engraver
- Date
- [1796]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1796 Jamai Ass 2364.O frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2692
- Title
- An inhabitant of Angola
- Description
- Portrait image of an Angolan man. Subject wears only a tall head-piece, seemingly made of feathers, and a ribbon around his genitals. He holds a long spear in his right hand. An Angolan idol appears in the sky in the background. On the preceding page, Hebert wrote, "In Angola the people are fearfull blacke, their Religion is Ethnick, the Idols are of great esteeme amongst them, and called Mokisso, generally they are so wedded to Superstition, that some adore the Deuill in forme of a bloudie Dragon. Others a Ram-goat, a Leopard, a Batt, an Owle, a Snake or Dogge, to whom they ceremoniously kneele and bow vnto, groueling then vpon the Earth, they throw dust on their faces, and offer Hearbes, Rice, Rootes, Fruits, and such like, which is deuoured by the Witches, a Monster not a little feared and esteemed of amongst these Deuillish Sauages." (p. 8), Illustration in Sir Thomas Hebert's A relation of some yeares travaile, begvnne anno 1626: Into Afrique and the greater Asia, especially the territories of the Persian monarchie: and some parts of the Orientall Indies, and iles adiacent. Of their religion, language, habit, discent, ceremonies, and other matters concerning them . . . (London: Printed by William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, 1634), p. 9., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
- Creator
- Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650, engraver
- Date
- [1634]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *Stc 13190 902.F (Preston) p 9, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2892
- 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
- Congo
- Description
- Two residents of Congo are shown on a river-bank. A man stands to the left; he wears a plumed head-dress and warrior's garb, and holds a shield and a paddle. A woman crouches at the right. She is shown from the rear, and carries two children on her back. A river is visible behind them, as is a village., Double-page plate in Pieter van der Aa's La galerie agreable du monde, où l'on voit et un grand nombre de cartes tres-exactes et de belles tailles-douces, les principaux empires, roiaumes, republiques, provinces, villes, bourgs et forteresses . . . (Le tout mis en ordre & executé à Leide, par Pierre vander Aa [1729?]), n.p., In the absence of pagination, 49a has been written next to the plate., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
- Creator
- Meyer, Aldert, b. ca. 1664, engraver
- Date
- [1729?]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *U Gen Gal v 60-62 1729.F n.p. (49a), https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2949
- Title
- [Le Cap de Bona Esperance]
- Description
- Engraving shows a black family near the Cape of Good Hope. Carrying three small children (two hang in front of her, one is strapped on her back), the mother gestures toward the father, who appears to hold a dead bird by its neck. (It could, however, be some other type of creature.) The father wears a large collar, and his skin reveals numerous cut-marks. Ships are visible on the waters in the background., Double-page plate in Pieter van der Aa's La galerie agreable du monde, où l'on voit et un grand nombre de cartes tres-exactes et de belles tailles-douces, les principaux empires, roiaumes, republiques, provinces, villes, bourgs et forteresses . . . (Le tout mis en ordre & executé à Leide, par Pierre vander Aa [1729?]), n.p., Caption reads: C.D. Bona Esperance., In the absence of pagination, 57a has been written next to the plate., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
- Creator
- Meyer, Aldert, b. ca. 1664, engraver
- Date
- [1729?]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *U Gen Gal v 60-62 1729.F n.p. (57a), https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2940
- Title
- Truey, the Griqua maid
- Description
- Portrait image of Truey (or Getrude), a young Griqua woman who had been captured by warriors loyal to the great Zulu chief Moselekatse. A maid, Griqua serves meat to Moselekatse's visitors., Plate in Sir William Harris's The wild sports of Southern Africa: Being a narrative of a hunting expedition from the Cape of Good Hope, through the territories of the Chief Moselekatse, to the Tropic of Capricorn (London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, 1852), p. 120., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
- Date
- [1852]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Harris 14048.O p 120, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2913
- 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
- Gezo, King of Dahomey
- Description
- Portrait image of King Gezo [i.e. Gezu], who ruled the Kingdom of Dahomey (now part of southern Benin) from 1818-1858. Through the help of the slave-trade, Dahomey flourished during the 18th and 19th century, and is said to have reached its highpoint during Gezu's rule. In the lithograph, the king is shown with one of his attendants, who holds a parasol over his head. In Part II, "Abomey, its Court and its People," Forbes described King Gezo as "about forty-eight years of age, good-looking, with nothing of the negro feature, his complexion wanting several shades of being black; his appearance commanding, and his countenance intellectual, though stern in the extreme. That he is proud there can be no doubt, for he treads the earth as if it were honoured by its burden. Were it not for the slight cast in his eye, he would be a handsome man. Contrasted with the gaudy attire of his ministers, wives, and caboceers (of every hue, and laden with coral, gold, silver, and brass ornaments), the king was plainly dressed, in a loose robe of yellow silk slashed with satins stars and half-moons, Mandingo sandals, and a Spanish hat trimmed with gold lace; the only ornament being a small gold chain of European manufacture." (vol. 1, p. 76-77), Frontispiece for Frederick E. Forbes's Dahomey and the Dahomans: Being the Journey of Two Missions to the King of Dahomey, and his Residence at the Capital, in the Years 1849 and 1850 (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1851), vol. 1., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
- Creator
- M.&N. Hanhart Chromo Lith, lithographers
- Date
- 1851
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Forbes 9727.D v 1 frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2905
- Title
- Negre Manding
- Description
- Included in Chapter IX, "Mandings, Barra, Kollar, et Badibou," the engraving shows a Mandingo regent in the costume of his people. The Mandingos are a West African ethnic group; they live in the countries of Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Senegal., Illustration in René Geoffroy de Villeneuve's L'Afrique, ou Histoire, moeurs, usages et coutumes des africains: Le Sénégal (Paris: Nepveu, libraire, passage des Panoramas, no. 26, 1814), vol. 3 p. 170., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
- Date
- [1814]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri R.G.V. 65954.D v 3 p 170, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2930
- Title
- A Zoolu warrior & his daughter
- Description
- 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.
- Creator
- Bagg, William, lithographer
- Date
- [1836]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Isaac 6281.D vol 1 frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2916
- Title
- The runaway slaves, Anthony Burns and Thomas Sims
- Description
- Set in Boston, the image shows the consequences of the Fugitive Slave Law in the North. Despite public hostility to slave-hunting, Livermore explained that escaped slaves such as Burns and Sims were "returned at noon-day, military authority being called out to prevent the interference of the people, who were determined on their rescue.", Illustration in Mary Ashton Rice Livermore's The Story of my Life, or, The Sunshine and Shadow of Seventy Years (Hartford: A.D. Worthington & Co., 1897), p. 450., Caption underneath image reads: "With pinioned arms and manacled feet they marched between files of soldiers to a steamer bound for South Carolina from whence they had fled. Vast throngs of men and women watched the procession, many weeping as they gazed.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Fugitives.
- Creator
- Garrett, Edmund Henry, 1853-1929, designer
- Date
- [1897]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1897 Liv 29518.O p 450, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2841
- Title
- Joanna
- Description
- Portrait of Joanna, a Surinamese mulatto and former slave, mistress to Captain John G. Stedman, an Englishman and the author of "Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam.", Illustration in Lydia Childs's the Oasis (Boston: Benjamin C. Bacon: Tuttle and Weeks, printers, No. 8, School Street, 1834), p. 64., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Creator
- Smith, George Girdler, 1795-1859, engraver
- Date
- [1834]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1834 Chi 70173.D.5 p 64, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2736
- Title
- A Carib of Morne Ronde, St. Vincent
- Description
- Portrait image of Mary and her child, two Caribs whom Wentworth met in Morne Ronde on St. Vincent. According to Wentworth, Mary's features "were more of the African character, than of the aboriginal Indians, who were remarkable for the symmetry of their forms, and long straight glossy hair." "Her proportions, too," he wrote, "were singularly out of proportion, as if -- excepting her head and feet, she had been formed of the half limbs of a muscular giantess." (p. 337), Plate in Trelawney Wentworth's West India Sketch Book (London: Printed for Whittaker & Co., Ave Maria Lane, 1834), vol. II, p. 336., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
- Date
- December 1833
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1834 Wentw 5894.D vol 2 p 336, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2740
- Title
- A typical negro
- Description
- 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.
- Date
- [July 1863]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare **Per H 1529.F v 7 n 340 July 4 1863 p 429, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2877
- Title
- Henry Diaz
- Description
- Image is set in front of the Cinco Pontas fortress in Pernambuco, Brazil. Henry Diaz, a black slave, leads a slave regiment that he assembled on behalf of the Portuguese. The slave regiment successfully captured Cinco Pontas, a former Dutch stronghold., Illustration in Lydia Childs's The Oasis (Boston: Benjamin C. Bacon: Tuttle and Weeks, printers, No. 8, School Street, 1834), p. 47., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Creator
- Hall, John H., engraver
- Date
- [1834]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1834 Chi 70173.D.5 p 47, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2735
- Title
- A Zoolu prophetess
- Description
- 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.
- Creator
- Bagg, William, lithographer
- Date
- [1836]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Isaac 6281.D vol 2 p 166, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2917
- Title
- Le Hottentot
- Description
- Portrait image of Klaas, a young Hottentot (i.e., Khoikhoi), who accompanied Le Vaillant during parts of his voyage. According to the text, the engraving was done after a sketch by Vaillant. Klass is dressed in the typical Khoikhoi fashion: he wears a fur loin-cloth, a cape made from sheep or badger's skin (with the woolly side inward), and a lamb-skin cap. It appears that he also wears animal innards around his neck and legs, as was customary among the Khoikhoin. A good description of their dress can be found in John Ogilby's Africa: Being an Accurate Description of the Regions of Aegypt, Barbary, Lybia, and Billedulgerid (London: 1670), p. 590-591., Plate in François Le Vaillant's Voyage de Monsieur Le Vaillant dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique par le Cap de Bonne-Espérance: dans les Années 1780, 81, 82, 83, 84 & 85 (A Paris: Chez Leroy, Libraire, rue Saint-Jacques; vis-à-vis celle de la Parcheminerie, no. 15, M.DCC.LXXXX [1790]), vol. 1, p. 212., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
- Date
- [1790]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Leva 1790 9861.O v 1 p 212, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2923
- Title
- Andries Africander, a mulatto Hottentot
- Description
- Portrait image of Andries Africander, a mulatto Hottentot (i.e. Khoikhoi), who served as Harris's driver during part of his travels. A pensioned private in the Cape Rifle Corps, Africander is shown here with his rifle. As Harris noted, and as the engraving suggests, he was missing both his right eye and his index finger. When Harris first made Africander's acquaintance, the latter had already made numerous trips into Moselekaste's country. He was also acquainted with the chief, and spoke a bit of English and Sichuana. He proved, however, to be an unfortunate addition to Harris's party. "A coward, a mutineer, and an inveterate liar," Harris wrote, " . . . Andries caused more mischief and trouble to us by his pernicious example and rebellious conduct when beyond the reach of the law, than can be well conceived by those who have never had the misfortunes to be exposed to the machinations of so dangerous a ruffian." (p. 10), Plate in Sir William Harris's The wild sports of Southern Africa: Being a narrative of a hunting expedition from the Cape of Good Hope, through the territories of the Chief Moselekatse, to the Tropic of Capricorn (London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, 1852), p. 8., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
- Date
- [1852]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Harris 14048.O p 8, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2912
- Title
- Aunt Winnie
- Description
- As the title suggests, the engraving is a portrait of Aunt Winnie, whom Strother's described as an "aged domestic" of "much importance" on a large Virginia estate. "Aunt Winnie," he explained, "was supposed to be upward of a hundred years old, and could count among her descendants children of the fifth generation" (one of whom stands at her side). According to Crayon, Aunt Winnie's cabin, a portion of which is visible in the portrait, "was fitted up with due regard to the comfort of the aged occupant, not forgetting the ornamental, in the shape of highly-colored lithographs and white fringed curtains." (p. 309), Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 13, no. 75 (August 1856), p. 310., Engraving accompanies Porte Crayon's [i.e., David Hunter Strother's] "Virginia illustrated. Adventures of Porte Crayon and his cousins," which was published in book form in 1857 by Harper & Brothers of New York., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
- Creator
- Orr, John William, 1815-1887, engraver
- Date
- [August 1856]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 13 n 75 August 1856 p 310, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2872
- Title
- The cook
- Description
- As the title suggests, the engraving is a portrait of a Virginia cook, whom Crayon described as "not merely a black woman, . . . but one bearing a patent stamp by the broad seal of Nature; the type of a class whose skill is not of books or training, but a gift both rich and rare -- who flourishes her spit as Amphitrite does her trident (or her husband's, which is all the same), whose ladle is as a royal sceptre in her hands, who has grown sleek and fat on the steam of her own genius, whose children have the first dip in all gravies, the exclusive right to all livers and gizzards, not to mention breasts of fried chickens -- who brazens her mistress, boxes her scullions, and scalds the dogs . . . ." (p. 176) Shown in her kitchen, the stout cook wears an apron and a kerchief, and is surrounded by bowls, buckets, a grill, and cooking utensils., Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 12, no. 68 (January 1856), p. 177., Engraving accompanies Porte Crayon's [i.e., David Hunter Srother's] "Virginia Illustrated. Adventures of Porte Crayon and his Cousins," which was published in book form in 1857. See David Hunter Strother, Virginia Illustrated (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
- Date
- [January 1856]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 12 n 68 January 1856 p 177, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2870
- Title
- Washington and his servant
- Description
- 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.
- Date
- [1883]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1883 Cof 23709.O p 37, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2831
- Title
- Douglass wird von Coven gezüchtigt
- Description
- Engraving accompanies a brief history of Frederick Douglass' early years (c. 1817-1838), and was included in the article, "Bilder aus dem Sklavenleben" (Pictures from Slave Life). Set in a plantation field, the scene shows Douglass on his hands and knees with his shirt hanging around his waist. Standing behind him, a slave-holder named Coven (Douglass' master from approximately 1833-34) beats his bare back with a stick. According to the text, Coven never let a week go by without whipping Douglass and his back never healed., Illustration in Weber's Volks-Kalendar (Leipzig: Verlag von J.J. Weber, [1853]), p. 143., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
- Date
- [1853]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1853 Web 21101.O p 143, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2796
- 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
- [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., Cover of the American Anti-Slavery Reporter, vol. 1, no. 3 (March, 1834), p. 33., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Creator
- Brown, G. L., engraver
- Date
- [March 1834]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 247 75432.O v 1 n 3 front cover, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2861
- 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
- [The rebel pirate's fatal prize]
- Description
- Image depicts a scene on board the schooner S.J. Waring. The ship's steward William Tillman [i.e., Billy Tilghman], "the brave and daring negro," armed with a hatchet, defends himself and his wife from three men identified as the "Pirate Prize Master, Lieutenant, and Mate," who stand in his doorway. Having learned of their secret plot to sell him and his wife into slavery, Tillman murders them., Vignette on the broadside advertisement for The Rebel Pirate's Fatal Prize (Philadelphia: Reichner & Co., 1862)., Accompanied by the caption: "Back sirs! She is my wife, she is no slave! Seize her at your peril.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
- Date
- [1862]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1862 Und (2) 5786.F 46e broadside vignette, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2809
- Title
- Hottentote
- Description
- Image of a young Hottentot (i.e., Khoikhoi) woman whom Le Vaillant met during his travels. The woman wears typical Khoikhoi dress: namely, a cape made from sheep or badger's skin. She does not, however, wear the customary fur loin-cloth -- an oversight allowing the illustrator to show her genitalia. Like many Khoikhoi women (including Saarti Baartman, the so-called "Hottentot Venus," who was crudely "exhibited" to European audiences in the early nineteenth century), the woman shown here has a "vagina dentata," which Le Vaillant described as a "natural apron." (See the English translation of Le Vaillant, Travels into the Interior Parts of Africa [London: Printed for G.G. and J. Robinson, Paternoster-Row, 1796], vol. 2, p. 353), Plate in François Le Vaillant's Voyage de Monsieur Le Vaillant dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique par le Cap de Bonne-Espérance: dans les Années 1780, 81, 82, 83, 84 & 85 (A Paris: Chez Leroy, Libraire, rue Saint-Jacques; vis-à-vis celle de la Parcheminerie, no. 15, M.DCC.LXXXX [1790]), vol. 2, p. 346., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
- Date
- [1790]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Leva 1790 9861.O v 2 p 346, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2924
- Title
- [Anna Xinga and her commanders]
- Description
- Engraving features Anna Xinga or Nzinga (second from left), the daughter and rightful successor of the King of Congo. After the Portuguese prevented her ascension to the throne, she fled the kingdom. As Ogilby explained, "She and her People (for the most part) lead an unsettled life, roving up and down from place to place, like the Jages: Before any enterprize undertaken, though of meanest concern, they ask councel of the Devil; to which end they have an Idol, to whom they sacrifice a living Person, of the wisest and comliest they can pick out." Ogilby then continued, "The Queen against the time of this Sacrifice, Clothes her self in mans appareal, (nor indeed does she at any time go otherwise habited) hanging about her the Skins of beasts, before and behind, with a Sword about her Neck, an Ax at her Girdle, and a Bowe and Arrows in her Hand, leaping according to their Custom, now here, then there, as nimbly, as the most active among her Attendants; all the while striking her Engema, that is, two Iron Bells, which serve her in stead of Drums. When she thinks she has made a show long enough, in a Masculine manner, and thereby hath weary'd her self; then she takes a broad Feather and sticks it through the holes of her boar'd Nose, for a sign of War. She her self in this rage, begins with the first of those appointed to be sacrificed; and cutting off his head, drinks a great draught of his blood. Then follow the Stoutest Commanders, as do as she hath done; and this with a great hurly-burly, tumult, and playing upon Instruments about their Idol. Among all her most pretious things, she bestows no such care on any, as the Bones of one of her Brothers, who Raign'd before her, which lie together in a costly Silver Chest, long before gotten of the Portuguese." (p. 564), Illustration in John Ogilby's Africa: Being an accurate description of the regions of Aegypt, Barbary, Lybia, and Billedulgerid: the Land of Negroes, Guinee, and Aethiopia, and Abyssines, with all the adjacent islands, either in the Mediterranean, Atlantick, Southern, or Oriental Sea, belonging thereunto (London: Printed by Tho. Johnson, for the author, and are to be had at his house in White Fryers, M.DC.LXX [1670]), p. 565., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
- Date
- [1670]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *Wing O163 14.F p 565, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2961
- Title
- Solomon Northup in his plantation suit
- Description
- Portrait of Solomon Northup, a free citizen of New York, who was kidnapped in Washington City in 1841 and sold into slavery. Northup is shown in a suit that he wore as a slave on a Louisiana cotton plantation., Frontispiece for Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River, in Louisiana (Auburn: Derby and Miller; Buffalo: Derby, Orton and Mulligan; London: Sampson Low, Son & Company, 1853)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
- Date
- [1853]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1853 Nor 54079.D frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2791
- Title
- Chatoyer the Chief of the Black Charaibes in St. Vincent with his five wives
- Description
- Engraving illustrates an episode described in Chapter 13 of Edward's volume, "A Tour through the Several Islands of Barbadoes, St. Vincent, Antigua, Tobago, and Grenada, in the Years 1791, and 1792." The chapter was written by Sir William Young, the owner of the painting upon which this engraving is based. Set on the island of St. Vincent, the engraving shows Chatoyer, the chief of the black Charaibes, and his five wives., Folded plate in Bryan Edward's The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies, in three volumes (London: Printed for John Stockdale, Piccadilly, 1801), vol. 3, p. 262., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
- Creator
- Grignion, Charles, 1717-1810, engraver
- Date
- [March 18, 1796]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1801 Edwar 18058.O v 3 p 262, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2706
- Title
- [Sampson, a West Indian slave]
- Description
- According to St. Clair, the engraving features the slave Sampson, who was referred to as such on the basis of his enormous strength. Sampson was owned by a Dutchman whose plantation was near the Essequibo River in Guyana. After Sampson's second escape and capture, his master sentenced him to a severe flogging, and then took steps to deter future escape attempts. As St. Clair explained, Sampson "had an iron collar fastened round his throat, which had three legs sticking out from it, having, as represented in the sketch, hooks at their ends, which render it impossible for any human being to escape through the thick underwood in this country. In addition to this, his left leg was chained to an enormous heavy log of wood, which, when he walked, was thrown over his left shoulder. In this state, he was obliged daily to perform as much work as any other Negro on the estate.", Illustration in Thomas St. Clair's A Residence in the West Indies and America (London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, publisher in ordinary to His Majesty, 1834), vol. 2, p. 214., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
- Date
- [1834]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1834 St. Cla 8958.O v 2 p 214, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2739