Search results

Title: Chorus -- sing, darkeys, sing
Description: Pro-slavery image set on Fairfield Plantation, a fictional plantation near Macon, Georgia. This scene of casual socializing shows a large "corn-shucking" or husking. A group of men, women, and childen sit around a large pile of corn husks. Laughing and talking with one another, they husk the corn and toss the ears aside. A man identified in the text as Uncle Cato sits on top of pile and leads the others in singing. Two white overseers, who, according to the text, provided the slaves with whiskey, stand near a tree in the background., Illustration in Robert Criswell's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" contrasted with Buckingham Hall, the planter's home; or, A fair view of both sides of the slavery question (New York: Printed and published by D. Fanshaw, No. 108 Nassau-street, 1852), p. 64., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator: Whitney & Annin, engraver
Date: [1852]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare 2 Wright 660 71441.O p 64, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2652

Title: The festival
Description: Set at Buckingham Hall, a fictional plantation near Charleston, South Carolina, this pro-slavery image presents a scene of general merriment. In accordance with the wishes of their benevolent master, Col. Buckingham, the slaves celebrate a "holiday and festival." Jerry, the leader of the band, sits upon a hogshead and plays his fiddle. Next to him, others play banjos, bones, and other instruments for the entertainment of a group of dancers. Other slaves eat ("from a fatted calf"), drink ("something better than water"), and socialize. Col. Buckingham and his family enjoy the festivites from a raised platform in a tree to the right., Illustration in Robert Criswell's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" contrasted with Buckingham Hall, the planter's home; or, A fair view of both sides of the slavery question (New York: Printed and published by D. Fanshaw, No. 108 Nassau-street, 1852), p. 112., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator: Whitney & Annin, engraver
Date: [1852]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare 2 Wright 660 71441.O p 112, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A3139

Title: Osman
Description: Illustration accompanies the narrative, "The Dismal Swamp." A fugitive slave identified only as Osman sits amidst some tangled undergrowth. Holding his gun, he appears watchful. According to the text, a "tattered blanket" is wrapped about his shoulders, and he wears "little other clothing than a pair of ragged breeches an boots." His hair and beard are described as "tipped with gray." (p 453), Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 13, no. 76 (September 1856), p. 452., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Fugitives.
Date: [September 1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 13 n 76 September 1856 p 452, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2873

Title: The successful manhunt
Description: Engraving portrays an episode described in Hildreth's fictional narrative. With blood- hounds in tow and "armed to the teeth," a party of mounted slave-hunters proceeds with two captured fugitives: the young man marching in front around whose neck a rope has been tied, and the older man, identified in the narrative as Wild Tom, who rides on horseback and whose arms are tied behind his back. In the center of the image, the lifeless body of Snapdragon, a Yankee overseer, is draped over a horse. He was killed by Wild Tom during the course of the man hunt., Plate in Richard Hildreth's Archy Moore, the White Slave; or Memoirs of a Fugitive (New York and Auburn: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855), p. 290., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Fugitives.
Creator: Baker & Smith
Date: [1855]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1855 Hildr 72210.O p 290, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2801

Title: "Old Joseph, the Patriarch"
Description: Engraving accompanies a fictional episode described in Letter IV, "The 'Purchases' -- Old Joseph." Episode takes place on Christmas Eve in the cabin of the coachman Rafe, the slave seated on the log near the fireplace to the extreme right. Rafe has learned that he will soon be sold, and thus separated from his wife, who sits to his right, and their young child, who rests on her lap. Other slaves cluster around the couple, trying to comfort them. Leaning on his walking stick, Old Joseph (described as "the beau ideal of a patriarch, at once humble, dignified and venerable") stands and faces the group, offering words of wisdom and consolation. Interior is furnished with a bench, a chest of drawers, a large chair, and stools of varying sizes. The men's discarded top hats are placed throughout the room, as are assorted utilitarian and domestic objects, such as pots and pans, an umbrella, and an axe. In the foreground, a book, quite possibly the Bible, rests on a stool., Frontispiece for Emily C. Pearson's Cousin Franck's Household, or, Scenes in the Old Dominion (Boston: Upham, Ford, and Olmstead, 1853)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator: Hedge, Franklin, b. ca. 1830, engraver
Date: [1853]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1853 Pear 73222.O frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2792

Title: [Scene from Northwood, or, life North and South]
Description: Set in a lush grove on the bank of a river, lake, or pond, the vignette features a black man (presumably a slave), who helps a young white boy (most likely the son of his master) steady a fishing pole. The well-dressed boy sits on the knee of the barefoot slave., Vignette in a full-page advertisement for Sarah Hale's Northwood; or, Life North and South (New York: H. Long & Brother, 43 Ann-Street, [1852]), printed in The Literary World: a Gazette for Authors, Readers, and Publishers, edited by C.F. Hoffmann (New York: Osgood & Co., 1852), vol. 11, no. 299 (October 23, 1852), p. 272., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life
Creator: Orr, John William, 1815-1887, engraver
Date: [October 1852]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *Per L 49.7 2478.Q v 11 n 299 p 272, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2883

Title: Wreck of the slave ship
Description: According to Hildreth's narrative, the plate shows a domestic slave ship that was caught in a storm while travelling down the Atlantic coast to Charleston. After the captain and crew fled in a jolly-boat, the slaves worked the pumps in the hopes of saving themselves. They were eventually rescued and brought to a jail in Norfolk, Virginia., Illustration in Richard Hildreth's The White Slave: or, Memoirs of a Fugitive (London: Ingram, Cooke, & Co., 227 Strand, MDCCCLII, 1852), p. 80., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Images from the Slave Trade.
Date: [1852]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1852 Hildr 70799.O p 80, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2787

Title: The emigration
Description: Engraving accompanies Chapter VII ("A Variety of Incidents") in Thorpe's fictional narrative. It shows the protagonist, Mildmay, leading his slaves on a journey from North Carolina to Louisiana, where he had purchased a new plantation. Following Mildmay's example, the slaves discarded most of their possessions and took only what they could carry. According to the text, the procession included five large wagons, "which were filled with camp equipage, cooking utensils, sick or delicate women, and infant children." (p. 72), Illustration in Thomas Bangs Thorpe's The master's house; or, scenes descriptive of southern life (New York: J.C. Derby, 119 Nassau Street, 1855), p. 70., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator: Whitney, Jocelyn & Annin, engraver
Date: [1855]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare 2 Wright 2496a 71095.D p 70, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2657

Title: The tango
Description: Engraving accompanies the lead article "The Carib Settlements." According to the unnamed author, it is set in the house of the "King of the Cannibal Islands" in Tulian, Honduras. In the center of the scene, a small group dances to the sound of the musicians' drums (right). As the author explained, "Our arrival was the signal for the commencement of the festivities. Such another exhibition of the Terpsichorean art I never had the pleasure of witnessing. Their instruments consisted of a couple of drums made of hollow logs with hide stretched over one end, and a Boston tin cracker-box, on which instruments a sort of running accompaniment was beaten with their hands. Wild songs were chanted during the progress of the dance, one of which, more moderate than the rest, and in English, was shouted for our benefit." In the next paragraph, he continued, "I am told their dancing is a perfect counterpart of similar proceedings on the western coast of Africa, from whence they originally came. They place the music in the centre of the room, and arranged themselves around it, and commenced a series of movements of the body, throwing in frequent twists and jerks by way of embellishment." (p. 149), Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 15, no. 86 (July 1857), p. 149., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Daily Life.
Date: July 1857
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 15 n 86 July 1857 p 149, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2874

Title: Solomon Northup in his plantation suit
Description: Portrait of Solomon Northup, a free citizen of New York, who was kidnapped in Washington City in 1841 and sold into slavery. Northup is shown in a suit that he wore as a slave on a Louisiana cotton plantation., Frontispiece for Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River, in Louisiana (Auburn: Derby and Miller; Buffalo: Derby, Orton and Mulligan; London: Sampson Low, Son & Company, 1853)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Date: [1853]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1853 Nor 54079.D frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2791

Title: Slave market scene on the Kambia River, coast of Africa
Description: In the center of this busy, crowded scene, a European slave-trader examines the teeth of a male slave who is lying flat on the ground. Another European trader straddles the slave while negotiating with three African merchants. To the right, a well-dressed European merchant observes the inspection process. The open book near his elbow is most likely a ledger in which he will record his purchases. To the left of center, a European slave-trader brands a female slave while others wait their turn. With his back turned toward the viewer, an overseer in the left foreground watches the branding of the slaves. A large hatchet hangs from his belt, and he holds a metal instrument commonly used to restrain and punish slaves. In the left background, an African overseer whips a bound slave. A slave-ship at sea appears in the distant background., Fold-out frontispiece for Richard Drake's Revelations of a Slave Smuggler: Being the Autobiography of Capt. Rich'd Drake, an African Trader for Fifty-Years from 1807 to 1857; during which Period He Was Concerned in the Transportation of Half a Million Blacks from African Coast to America (New York: Robert M. De Witt, publisher, [c1860])., Wood engraving after the 1840 painting entitled "The Slave Trade" by Auguste-Francois Biard., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from the Slave Trade.
Creator: Andrew & Filmer, engraver
Date: [1840, c1860]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1860 Dra 72735.O frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2805

Title: Modes of punishing slaves
Description: Illustration is included in Chapter VI, "Domestic Slavery in Madagascar." According to Ellis, he often witnessed "some of the inevitable consequences of the system [i.e., domestic slavery] that were perhaps more revolting in their moral degradation than in the physical suffering inflicted." The girl on the right, for example, represented one such case. As Ellis wrote, "I saw one young girl who had a couple of boards fixed on her shoulders, each of them rather more than two feet long, and ten inches or a foot wide, fastened together by pieces of wood nailed on the under side. A piece had been cut out of each board in the middle, so that, when fixed together, they fitted close to her neck, and the poor girl, while wearing this instrument of punishment and disgrace, was working with the rest." (p. 147-48) The boy on the left represented another such case. Ellis recalled, "On another occasion I saw a boy, apparently about fifteen years of age, with a rough, heavy, iron collar on his naked neck. It seemed to be formed by a square bar of iron of about three quarter of an inch thick being bent round his neck, and the two ends then joined together. Yet he was working with a number of other boys and men employed in carrying fire-wood to the beach for shipping.", Illustration in William Ellis's Three Visits to Madagascar during the Years 1853 -- 1854 -- 1856 (London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1858), p. 148., As noted on the title page, the wood engravings are said to be after "photographs, etc.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
Date: [1858]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Ellis 14699.O p 148, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2904

Title: Scene in the slave pen at Washington
Description: Engraving portrays an episode described in Northup's narrative. After being kidnapped, Northup was held in Williams' slave pen in Washington City. There, he explained, he was beaten by James H. Burch, a well-known slave-dealer, and Radburn, his lackey. Burch is seen on the left, whipping Northup with a cat-o'-ninetails. ("The cat was a large rope of many strands -- the strands unraveled, and a knot tied at the extremity of each.") Describing the scene in his own words, Northup wrote, "As soon as these formidable whips appeared, I was seized by both of them, and roughly divested of my clothing. My feet, as has been stated, were fastened to the floor. Drawing me over the bench, face downwards, Radburn placed his heavy foot upon the fetters, between my wrists, holding them painfully to the floor. With the paddle, Burch commenced beating me." (p. 44), Illustration in Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1851, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River, in Louisiana (Auburn and Buffalo [N.Y.]: Miller, Orton & Mulligan; London: Sampson Low, Son & Company, 1854), p. 44., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
Creator: Orr, Nathaniel, engraver
Date: [1854]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1854 North 70438.O p 44, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2799

Title: Cotton pressing in Louisiana
Description: Engraving shows the pressing of cotton, which, according to the unnamed author of an accompanying article, represents "one of the most interesting of the various stages of preparation of cotton for the market." After being picked and harvested, the cotton was compressed into bales similar those shown in the left foreground. The press (center) was described as being "supported by a heavy frame of timber" and "about nine feet in depth." As the author explained, the work proceeded as follows: "Into this, the light, the fleecy substance is poured, and the capstan bar being set to work, it is gradually compressed to the required size, the cords are fastened round the bale, and it leaps out ready for transportation." Commenting on the slaves' labor, the author remarked, "In our sketch, a party is busily filling the press, and two stout hands are removing the bales under the direction of the overseer. But the life and soul of the party is at the capstan, in the person of the lively darky [third from right] engaged in extravagant imitations of the overseer, and jeers at the expense of the solemn figure next to him. This mercurial 'culled passion,' a fair specimen of his light-hearted race, by his jokes and high spirits, almost doubles the motive power at the bars. Though apparently solely occupied with attempts upon the facial muscles of his fellow-servants, yet at the exact moment, he will turn a somerset, kick the shins of his next neighbors, like a playful donkey, and run round with the bars, the loudest in singing the monotonous but not unmusical chant by which the black accompany their labor." (p. 236), Illustration in Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, vol. X, no. 15 (April 12, 1856), p. 236., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Creator: Pierce, William J., engraver
Date: [1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *Per B 1 5919.F v X n 15 April 12 1856 p 236, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2862

Title: "Virginia hoe-down"
Description: Aboard a steamer on the Mississippi River, a black deck-hand and a fiddler hold their own "Virginia hoe-down." The engraving accompanies T.B. Thorpe's "Remembrances of the Mississippi," and corresponds with a passage in which he describes the festive, light-hearted, and "happy" nature of "the negroes of the Mississippi." "With professional boat-men," Thorpe wrote," they are always favorites, and at night, when the 'old ark' is tied up, their acme of human felicity is a game of 'old sledge,' enlivened by a fiddle. On such ocassions the master of the instrument will touch off the 'Arkansas traveler,' and then gradually sliding into a 'Virginia hoe-down,' he will be accompanied by a genuine darkie keeping time, on the light and fantastic heel-and-toe tap." (p. 37) As the deck-hand dances and the fiddler plays, two boatmen play cards and a third looks on., Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 12, no. 67 (December 1855), p. 38., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Date: [December 1855]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 12 n 67 December 1855 p 38, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2868

Title: A Negro funeral
Description: Engraving accompanies T. Addison Richard's narrative, "The Rice Lands of the South," which, among other topics, describes slave life on southern rice plantations. It shows a slave funeral, set in a heavily wooded grove, in which numerous mourners take part. A preacher with raised, out-streched arms leads the service; mourners kneel, pray, and weep. Engraving corresponds with the following passage: "The state of excitement and exaltation to which their [i.e, the plantation slaves'] impressionable natures are so easily wrought, especially in religious matters, is manifest in their singing even more strangely than in their preaching and praying. These performances though, are, with all their grotesqueness and absurdity, often very effective and beautiful. Not seldom has it been our pleasure to listen to impromptu music, wondrously sweet and wild and weird, which, well counterfeited on the lyric stage, would bring fame and fortune. Perhaps the most remarkable of these exhibtions are those which are wont to occur on occasions of funeral solemnities, celebrated, as they generally are, in the deep night-darkness of some dense old wood, made doubly dismal by the ghostly light of the pine torches and the phantom-like figures of the scarcely visible mourners." (p. 735), Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 19, no. 114 (November 1859), p. 731., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Date: [November 1859]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 19 n 114 November 1859 p 731, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2876

Title: Aunt Winnie
Description: As the title suggests, the engraving is a portrait of Aunt Winnie, whom Strother's described as an "aged domestic" of "much importance" on a large Virginia estate. "Aunt Winnie," he explained, "was supposed to be upward of a hundred years old, and could count among her descendants children of the fifth generation" (one of whom stands at her side). According to Crayon, Aunt Winnie's cabin, a portion of which is visible in the portrait, "was fitted up with due regard to the comfort of the aged occupant, not forgetting the ornamental, in the shape of highly-colored lithographs and white fringed curtains." (p. 309), Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 13, no. 75 (August 1856), p. 310., Engraving accompanies Porte Crayon's [i.e., David Hunter Strother's] "Virginia illustrated. Adventures of Porte Crayon and his cousins," which was published in book form in 1857 by Harper & Brothers of New York., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator: Orr, John William, 1815-1887, engraver
Date: [August 1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 13 n 75 August 1856 p 310, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2872

Title: The cook
Description: As the title suggests, the engraving is a portrait of a Virginia cook, whom Crayon described as "not merely a black woman, . . . but one bearing a patent stamp by the broad seal of Nature; the type of a class whose skill is not of books or training, but a gift both rich and rare -- who flourishes her spit as Amphitrite does her trident (or her husband's, which is all the same), whose ladle is as a royal sceptre in her hands, who has grown sleek and fat on the steam of her own genius, whose children have the first dip in all gravies, the exclusive right to all livers and gizzards, not to mention breasts of fried chickens -- who brazens her mistress, boxes her scullions, and scalds the dogs . . . ." (p. 176) Shown in her kitchen, the stout cook wears an apron and a kerchief, and is surrounded by bowls, buckets, a grill, and cooking utensils., Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 12, no. 68 (January 1856), p. 177., Engraving accompanies Porte Crayon's [i.e., David Hunter Srother's] "Virginia Illustrated. Adventures of Porte Crayon and his Cousins," which was published in book form in 1857. See David Hunter Strother, Virginia Illustrated (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Date: [January 1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 12 n 68 January 1856 p 177, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2870

Title: A conservative philospher
Description: Crayon's "conservative philosopher" is a Virginia boot-black named Billy Devilburg, whose tendency to philosophize about boots and social class earned him this title. Devilburg is shown in his shop, where, surrounded by boots, he holds forth on this topic. According to Crayon, Devilburg was "a specimen of his race that merited more than a casual glance." As he wrote, "time had made strong marks upon his face, but good temper and full feeding had kept out the petty wrinkles which indicate decrepitude. His broad forehead, fringed with grizzled wool, imparted an air of dignity to his countenance, his one eye beamed with honesty, while his quiet, deferential manner inspired the respect it tendered." (p. 178), Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 12, no. 68 (January 1856), p. 178., Engraving accompanies Porte Crayon's [i.e., David Hunter Srother's] "Virginia Illustrated. Adventures of Porte Crayon and his Cousins," which was published in book form in 1857. See David Hunter Strother, Virginia Illustrated (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Date: [January 1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 12 n 68 January 1856 p 178, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2871

Title: The banks of the River James
Description: Image is set Lynchburg, Virginia, where a party of African American men rest on the bank of the River James. A row-boat and two oars are visible in the left foreground; a wagon occupies the background., Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 12, no. 68 (January 1856), p. 174., Engraving accompanies Porte Crayon's [i.e., David Hunter Srother's] "Virginia Illustrated. Adventures of Porte Crayon and his Cousins," which was published in book form in 1857. See David Hunter Strother, Virginia Illustrated (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Date: [January 1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 12 n 68 January 1856 p 174, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2869

Title: Tobacco plantation
Description: Engraving accompanies the lead article "The History and Mystery of Tobacco." It is set on a tobacco plantation, and shows a large field of tobacco plants, as well as two surrounding buildings. In the foreground, three black men use hoes to break up the soil and pull the grass around the growing plants., Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 11, no. 61 (June 1855), p. 8., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Date: [June 1855]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 11 n 61 June 1855 p 8, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2867

Title: Picking cotton
Description: 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

Title: Carrying cotton to the gin
Description: Engraving is one of several accompanying T.B. Thorpe's article "Cotton and its Cultivation." It shows seven African American plantation hands walking with large baskets of cotton on their heads. The men and women walk in a perfect line, leaving three or four paces between them. The illustration corresponds with the following passage, "Among the most characteristic scenes of plantation life is the returning of the hands at nightfall from the field, with their well-filled baskets of cotton upon their heads. Falling unconsciously "into line," the stoutest leading the way, they move along in the dim twilight of a winter day with the quietness of spirits rather than human beings." (p. 455-56), Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 8, no. 46 (March 1854), p. 457., 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 457, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2865

Title: Cotton gin -- Ginning cotton
Description: Engraving is one of several accompanying T.B. Thorpe's article "Cotton and its Cultivation." Set in a gin-house, it shows two plantation hands working at a cotton gin. While a man pushes cotton out of the "packing-room" (a loft space) and down a chute, a woman uses a rake-like tool to guide it through the gin. Standing nearby, a woman with a bucket on her head watches the process, and a man peeks into the gin-house through an open window. Two large baskets used for carrying cotton can be seen in the left foreground., Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 8, no. 46 (March 1854), p. 459., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Date: [January 1854]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 8 n 46 March 1854 p 459, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2866

Title: Tuning up
Description: Engraving is one of several accompanying the story "A Winter in the South." It is set in Tennesse, and shows three black musicians, who, at the request of their master, played for him and his family on Christmas Day. According to the story's unnamed author, the master's rhetorical question " . . . because we have the misfortune to be white, shall we never forget our cares and troubles?" was followed by the decisive order, "Bring in the fiddlers!" As the author then wrote, "In came the joyful musicians, grinning from ear to ear, and bowing until they sweep the floor with their greasy hats, anticipating the extra drams and half-dollars for their holiday spendings." (p. 295) In the illustration, the musicians are show with their instruments (fiddles and a tamborine). The portrayal of their facial features adheres to negative racial stereotypes., Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 17, no. 99 (August 1858), p. 295., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Daily Life.
Date: [August 1858]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 17 n 99 August 1858 p 295, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2875

Title: [Aunt Judy's husband captured]
Description: Illustration accompanies the narrative, "Aunt Judy's Story: A Story from Real Life," by Matilda G. Thompson. According to the story, Aunt Judy's husband, John, was a Kentucky slave with a brutal master. Desperate to leave, and eager to regain contact with Judy, who lived on a different plantation, John managed to escape. He made it to the plantation of Judy's mistress, and hid there for more than a week before he was betrayed and captured by slave-hunters., Illustration in The child's anti-slavery book (Boston: American Tract Society, 28 Cornhill, Boston, 1859), p 104., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
Date: [1859]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1859 Chil 65676.D p 104, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2804

Title: A freeholder's court
Description: Engraving portrays an episode described in Hildreth's fictional narrative. A court of five Carolina freeholders, selected "at hap-hazard," falsely convicted a slave named Billy for plundering the rice-fields of a neighboring plantation, and sentenced him to death. As Hildreth wrote, "the sentence was no sooner pronounced than preparations were made for its execution. An empty barrel was brought out, and placed under a tree that stood before the door. The poor fellow was mounted upon it; the halter was put about his neck, and fastened to a limb over his head. The judges had already become so drunk as to have lost all sense of judicial decorum. One of them kicked away the barrel, and the unhappy victim of Carolina justice dropped struggling into eternity." (p. 197), Frontispiece for Richard Hildreth's Archy Moore, the White Slave; or Memoirs of a Fugitive (New York and Auburn: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
Creator: Fox, Frederick E., engraver
Date: [1855]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1855 Hildr 72210.O frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2800

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