Abolitionist book illustration used to illustrate the inhumane transit conditions for enslaved people during the midddle passage across the Atlantic. Depicts aerial, horizontal, and vertical cross sections of the multi-decked ship tightly packed with prostrate enslaved figures. The proportional diagram, based on the dimensions of the English slave ship, "Brooke," and space calculations, based on a report to the House of Commons in London in 1798, contains fewer figures than the number of humans routinely transported on the actual ship., Title from earlier plate in C.B. Wadstrom's An Essay on Colonization (London: C.B. Waldstrom, 1794). (LCP *U Afr Wads, 728.Q)., Plate from Thomas Clarkson's The History of the Rise, Progress, & Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the British Parliament. Vol. II (Philadelphia: James P. Parke, 1808). (LCP Am 1808 Clar, 1934.D)., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Civil War portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator
Kneass, William, 1780-1840, engraver
Date
[1808]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC-Slavery [5755.F.11]