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- Title
- Manner of bush-fighting by the African negroes; Gradation of shades between Europe & Africa
- Description
- As Stedman noted, he sketched the top diagram to better convey the African negroes' manner of bush fighting. The following explanation can be found in his text: "The two columns E and F are supposed to be first engaged, where No 1 in the column E commences the attack by firing at random in the opposite bushes; and instantly retires, by shifting his place to No 1 in the column C, where he re-loads; while No 2 in the column F, having fired at the flash of his pan, advances in the same manner, shifting his station to re-load at No 2 in the column D; and at the flash of whose pan No 3 fires in E, and receives the fire of No 4 in F, &c. &c. Thus continuing through both lines, til No 8 has fired in F, when the whole have shifted their stations; and the same manoeuvre is continued with the columns C and D, beginning again with the identical numbers 1, 2, 3, &c. at the top; while these lines, having shifted their places, still the firing is repeated by the lines A and B, and thus ad infinitum, until by sounding the horn one of the parties gives way in fight, and the battle is over." Below the diagram, a color scale shows some skin-tone gradations between black and white. Commenting on this, Stedman wrote: "Having frequently mentioned the different shades between a black and a white, the same plate represents them to the reader at one view. From the above two colours the mulatto is produced; from the mulatto and black, the sambo; from the mulatto and white, the quaderoon, & c. &c.", Plate LIV in John Gabriel Stedman's Narrative, of a five year's expedition, against the revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the wild coast of South America; from the year 1772 to 1777 (London: Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church Yard, & J. Edwards, Pall Mall, 1796), vol. 2, p. 98., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
- Date
- Dec. 1, 1791
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1796 Sted 755.Q v 2 p 98, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2700
- Title
- Female quadroon [sic] slave of Surinam
- Description
- Engraving was done after one of John Gabriel Stedman's own drawings, which record his impressions of Surinam. It offers a detailed frontal view of female slave from Surinam, who, being a quaderoon, belonged to a "class . . .much respected for their affinity to Europeans." (A quaderoon, as Stedman explained, is "the offspring of a white and a mulatto;" and there were many in Surinam.) The plate is accompanied by a lengthy passage, which reads as follows: "To give the reader a more lively idea of these people, I shall describe the figure and dress of a Quaderoon girl, as they usually appear in this colony. They are mostly tall, straight, and gracefully formed; rather more slender than the Mulattoes, and never go naked above the waist, like the former. Their dress commonly consists of a sattin petticoat, covered with flowered gauze; a close short jacket, made of best India chintz or silk, laced before and shewing about an hand-breadth of a fine muslin shirt between the jacket and the petticoat. As for stockings and shoes, the slaves in this country never wear them. Their heads are adorned with a fine bunch of black hair in short natural ringlets; they wear a black or white beaver hat, with a feather, or a gold loop and button: their neck, arms, and ancles are ornamented with chains, bracelets, gold medals, and beads. All these fine women have European husbands, to the no small mortification of the fair Creolians; yet should it be known that an European female had an intercourse with a slave of any denomination, she is for ever detested, and the slave loses his life without mercy." (vol. 1, p. 297), Plate XXXII in John Gabriel Stedman's Narrative, of a five year's expedition, against the revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the wild coast of South America; from the year 1772 to 1777 (London: Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church Yard, & J. Edwards, Pall Mall, 1796) vol. I, facing p. 296., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
- Creator
- Perry, engraver
- Date
- [between 1791 and 1796]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1796 Sted 755.Q v 1 p 296, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2696