According to the title, the image is set in the West Indies in 1764. The lithograph accompanies a brief discussion of the history of cotton cultivation in the New World. The featured plantation is situated near the coast, and three ships (presumably trading vessels) are visible in the background. In the right foreground, a slave picks cotton from a plant and places it in a basket. Behind him, another slave carefully cleans the picked cotton. At the far left, a female slave operates an early cotton gin, and two men pack large sacks of finished cotton. Two full sacks of cotton occupy the left foreground; one bears the label "7 No. 120 / P.R.M.", Plate in the Report on the Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co. for E. Barksdale, State Printer, 1854), plate VIII, p. 140., Engraving is based upon a print executed by Prevost and published in the first volume of Diderot's Encylcopedia (Paris: 1762) under the title "Oeconomie Rustique, Culture et Arsonnage du Coton.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Creator
Fuchs, F., lithographer
Date
[1854]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1854 Miss Sta 13287.O p 140, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2798
Lithograph was copied from an engraving originally published in Carl Bernhard Wadstrom's Essay on Colonization (London: Printed for the author, by Darton and Harvey, Gracechurch-Street, 1794-95). As the title suggests, the lithograph shows an insurrection aboard a slave ship. From the vantage point of a raised barricade near the ship's stern, the crew fires upon (what looks to be) hundreds of slaves crowded upon the deck. A number of slaves jump overboard. A cloud of smoke hovers over the British vessel., Illustration in William Fox's A Brief History of the Wesleyan Missions on the Western Coast of Africa (London: Printed for the author, published by Aylott and Jones, 8, Paternoster-Row: sold also by John Mason, 66, Paternoster-Row, MDCCCLI [1851]), p. 116., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from the Slave Trade.
Creator
Walton, W. L., lithographer
Date
[1851]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1851 Fox 12623.O p 116, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2786