Illustration included in Chapter XXVII, "Compromise of 1850." Set on a plantation, it shows two slaves, a man and a woman, at work in a cotton-field. Woman balances a basket of cotton on her head, while the man carries his on his shoulders. Image relates to the following description of slave life: "From the auction-room they went to the plantation to work in the cotton-fields, beneath the broiling sun, driven by a brutal overseer sitting on a horse, with a whip in his hand, which he delighted to crack over them, or to bring down upon the back of any one that lagged. The weak and feeble must keep up with the strong in wielding the heavy hoe. When the fields were snow-white with the bursting bolls they must perform their allotted tasks in picking; the baskets must be full and running over: the number of pounds specified for a day's work to be tipped by the steel-yards, or in default they would be flogged." (p. 387), 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. 388., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Date
[1883]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1883 Cof 23709.O p 388, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2832
Engraving is one of several accompanying T.B. Thorpe's article "Cotton and its Cultivation." It shows several black field hands picking cotton, and corresponds with the following passage: "The season of cotton picking commences in the latter part of July, and continues without intermission to the Christmas holidays. The work is not heavy, but becomes tedious from its sameness. The field hands are each supplied with a basket and a bag. The basket is left at the head of the 'cotton-rows;' the bag is suspended from the 'picker's' neck by a strap, and is used to hold the cotton as it is taken from the boll. When the bag is filled it is emptied into the basket, and this routine is continued through the day." (p. 455), Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 8, no. 46 (March 1854), p. 456., 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 456, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2864
