© Copyright 2020 - The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. TEL (215) 546-3181 FAX (215) 546-5167
For inquiries, please contact our IT Department
- Title
- [Liberator masthead, 1850
- Description
- Engraving is divided into two parts by a roundel in the center that features a Christ-figure with a cross. The words "I come to break the bonds of the oppressors" are printed around the roundel's periphery. To the left, a black man kneels at Christ's feet. With shackled wrists, he holds his hands together in prayer. To the right, a slaveholder is positioned on the ground; most of his body is oriented away from Christ. Scene to the left of the roundel shows a slave auction, identified as such by a sign that reads "Slaves, Horses, & Other Cattle in Lots to Suit Purchase." (Versions of the sign appear in earlier Liberator mastheads.) An auctioneer stands on a raised platform over which an American flag flies; a small black child sits at his feet. Crying, the child covers his face with his hands. Several other slaves (adults and children) huddle around the rear of the platform, while a number of slaveowners stand in front of it. A courthouse (or another government building) appears in the distant background; a flag that reads "SLAVERY" waves above it. The scene to the right of the roundel depicts the emancipation of the slaves. A similar building appears in the background. In this case, however, the flag above it reads "FREEDOM." With a sea of flags, a parade (of troops?) marches through a triumphal arch marked "EMANCIPATION." In the foreground, freed slaves of varying ages cluster in front of a building that may represent a schoolhouse. Seated in a rocking chair, an eldery slave holds an infant in her out-stretched arms. A lamb, a dog, and other animals stand on the edge of the group., Masthead from the Liberator, ed. William Lloyd Garrison (Boston: Y.B. Yerrinton & Son, Printers, 1850), vol. XX, no. 22, whole no. 1012 (May 31, 1850), p. 85., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Creator
- Hartwell
- Date
- [May 1850]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per L 21 1646.F v XX n 22 May 31 1850 p 85, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2882
- Title
- Sale of estates, pictures and slaves in the Rotunda, New Orleans
- Description
- As the title suggests, the engraving shows a large auction in the New Orleans Rotunda. At separate podiums, three auctioneers simultaneously take bids on a painting (left), a family of slaves (center), and a manuscript (right). In the foreground, several traders lean and sit casually on barrels and crates as they watch the slave auction. Bidders for the painting and manuscript look somewhat more genteel. The engraver's emphasis the light streaming though the Rotunda's oculus may represent an ironic commentary on the events taking place within it., Frontispiece for volume one of James Silk Buckingham's The Slave States of America (London; Paris: Fisher, Son, & Co. Newgate St. London; rue St. Honoré, Paris [1842])., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Images from the Slave Trade.
- Creator
- Starling, J. M., engraver
- Date
- [1842]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Buc 10584.O v 1 frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2774
- Title
- Gang of slaves journeying to be sold in a Southern market
- Description
- Driven by mounted men with whips, a large procession of bound slaves travels down a shallow creek. Some of the slaves hold children in their arms; others carry baskets and bundles on their heads. A family of free blacks watches from the banking on the left., Illustrated plate in James Silk Buckingham's The Slave States of America (London; Paris: Fisher, Son, & Co. Newgate St. London; rue St. Honoré, Paris [1842]), vol. 2, p. 552., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Images from the Slave Trade.
- Creator
- Holl, F., engraver
- Date
- [1842]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Buc 10584.O v 2 p 552, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2775
- 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
- "The Sabbath among slaves"
- Description
- Engraving depicts the author's experience of the Sabbath among slaves. As Bibb explained, having no moral or religious instruction, slaves generally "resort to the woods in large numbers on that day to gamble, fight, get drunk, and break the Sabbath." This behavior, Bibb noted, was encouraged by the slaveholders, who viewed the slaves' activities as a form of entertainment, and who liked to watch them fight, "dance, 'pat juber,' sing, and play the banjo." To this end, the slaves were often provided with whiskey. Accordingly, the illustration shows a slaveholder pouring a libation into a slave's glass. In the background left, a group of white men and women observe the Sabbath festivities., Illustration in Henry Bibb's Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb: an American Slave (New York: Published by the author, 5 Spruce Street, 1849), p 23., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes of Slave Life.
- Creator
- Strong, Thomas W., engraver
- Date
- [1849]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1849 Bibb 65732.D p 23, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2778
- Title
- [Election night mob]
- Description
- Scene depicts an incident that occurred in Philadelphia (the city proper and Moyamensing) on Election night, October 11, 1849. The incident began when a group of white boys and men dragged a flaming furniture car through the area around St. Mary Street, a neighborhood inhabited primarily by blacks. As the car travelled along, a shot was fired, and a cry arose that a white man had been shot. Having heard this, the mob headed toward the California house at Sixth and St. Mary, which was kept by a black man who was rumored to have a white wife. A riot ensued, and the California house was destroyed in a fire that claimed many other buildings and numerous lives., Frontispiece for Life and Adventures of Charles Anderson Chester: the notorious leader of the Philadelphia "killers." (Philadelphia: Printed for the publishers, 1850, c1849)., Accompanied by the following caption: "A cry at once arose that a white man was shot, and the attention of the mob was directed to the California House, at the corner of Sixth and St. Mary street.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
- Date
- [1850]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1850 Lif 76423.O (Mrs SM Brenner) frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2780
- Title
- Barbarous treatment of two unfortunate females
- Description
- Illustration accompanies Miss Harrintgon's (allegedly true) account of her capture by two blacks in the parish of Concordia, Louisiana in 1842. Miss Harrington (standing in the middle) was kidnapped by two black men, Enoch and Joseph (seen at right), who forced their way into her home and murdered her father, Noah Harrington. Thereafter, the two men entered the home of Mr. George Todd, whom they also killed, and then proceeded to take his wife and seven-month old infant into captivity. (Mother and child are seen at left). With a young mulatto girl named Nelly Predello in tow, the two men led Miss Harrington, Mrs. Eliza Todd, and her child into a swampy forest, where they were held for six weeks. As Miss Harrington's narrative emphasizes, Nelly had originally thought that she would be aiding the two men in some sort of simple escape attempt, and she was dismayed to discover the true nature of their murderous plot. In this scene, Nelly protects the two women from their captors. As Miss Harrington wrote, whenever Nelly felt their lives jeopardized, she "would drop on her knees and beg of the blacks to desist, and in the meantime assuring them, 'that if the lives of the two unfortunate captives were thus to be cowardly sacrificed, their bullets would have first to pass through her body, before she would willingly permit them to reach those of the unfortunate victims!'" Eventually, Nelly aided in the women's rescue by a group of white men., Frontispiece for Miss Harrington's Narrative of the Barbarous Treatment of Two Unfortunate Females (New York: Printed for the publishers, 1842)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
- Date
- [1842]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Harr 78297.O frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2776
- 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
- Whipping with the paddle, as witnessed by the author
- Description
- Image shows the type of event that Watson witnessed regularly while in the custody of a slave-trader named Mr. Denton. As Watson explained, "I was not sold for several weeks, thought I wished to be the first, not wishing to witness his cruelty to his slaves any longer; for if they displeased him in the least, he would order them to be stripped, and tied hand and foot together. He would then have his paddle brought, which was a board about two feet in length and one inch in thickness, having fourteen holes bored through it, about an inch in circumference. This instrument of torture he would apply, until the slave was exhausted, on parts which the purchaser would not be likely to examine." Correspondingly, in this scene, Denton beats a man who is tied to an upright pole in such a manner that he is forced to lie on his side on the ground in a fetal position. A child cries in the background; two potential purchasers approach., Illustration in Henry Watson's Narrative of Henry Watson: a Fugitive Slave (Boston: Bela Marsh, 1850), p. 11., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
- Date
- [1850]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1850 Wat 71223.O p 11, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2781
- Title
- Tread-wheel
- Description
- Under the overseer's whip, a group of Jamaican slaves power a large tread-wheel that is presumably used in sugar manufacturing. In the foreground, two slaves have collapsed from heat and exhaustion; they are tended to by others. To the left, another overseer flogs a slave while two white men look on. As Phillippo explained, the slave's labor, "under the fervent heat of a tropical sun, was indeed excessive, sufficient, during a comparatively short period of time, to expend the vigour and exhaust the spirits of the strongest and most energetic frame, inasmuch as they had to perform by manual operation those processes, which, in every other country, are performed by horses, oxen, and machinery." (p. 159-60), Illustration in James Phillippo's Jamaica: its Past and Present State (London: John Snow, Paternoster Row, MDCCCXLIII [1843]), p. 172, Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
- Date
- [1843]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1843 Phill 7675.D p 172, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2777
- Title
- [Slave and bald eagle in front of Capitol]
- Description
- Lying on the ground, a female slave holds and protects her small child. A large bald eagle is perched on the mother's back, and she turns to look at it. In the background, the U.S. Capitol is visible with a flag flying at full-mast., Front cover of the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1843 (New York: Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1842)., Accompanied by the following verse: "Oh, hail Columbia! Happy Land! / The cradle land of Liberty! / Where none but negroes bear the brand, / Or feel the lash of slavery. / Then let the glorious anthem peal! / And drown, 'Britannia rules the waves' -- / Strike up the song that men can feel -- / 'Columbia rules three million slaves!'", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1842]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Ame Ant 72750.O front cover, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2773
- Title
- [Slave and flag with black and white stars]
- Description
- Bound at the wrists and ankles, a male slave is tied -- with his arms over his head -- to a long flagpole. At the top of the pole is an American flag. The stars in the top three rows are white, while those in the bottom three are black., Back cover of the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1843 (New York: Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1842)., Accompanied by the following verse: "United States! Your banner wears /Two emblems -- one of fame; / Alas, the other that it bears / Reminds us of your shame. / The white man's liberty in types / Stands blazoned by your stars; / But what's the meaning of your stripes? / They mean you negro's scars.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1842]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Ame Ant 72750.O back cover, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2772