© 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
- [Thomas Cooper]
- Description
- Image depicts Thomas Cooper, a Maryland slave who escaped to Philadelphia, where he settled, found work, married, and raised a family. In this scene, Cooper's former owner, having learned of his whereabouts, has seized and handcuffed him, and is taking him back to Maryland. His wife and children beg for his release in vain. According to the accompanying text, Cooper's Philadelphia employers had offered to pay the slaveowner a large sum in return for his release, but their offer was refused., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 19., Caption underneath the image reads: "Consider the desolation which would be brought upon YOUR family, if the head of it should be taken away. The slaves suffer, in such cases, FAR MORE than we, for they have few pleasures except those they derive from their companions in wo [sic].", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1837]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 19, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2753
- Title
- [Chain gang]
- Description
- Illustration shows seven male slaves in tattered clothing who are chained together by shackles around their necks. Holding shovels and other tools, they set off to work in a field., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 21., Caption underneath the image reads: "The slaves are sometimes chained together when they go to work in the fields, lest their love of liberty should induce them to make violent efforts to escape.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1837]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 21, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2754
- Title
- [Whip and paddle]
- Description
- Set in a barn or work space, the illustrations shows an unclothed male slave who hangs from his wrists. To the right, a white overseer raises his whip. To the left, another white man holds the long handle of a paddle between his teeth. Rolling up his shirt sleeves, he prepares to participate in the beating. Further to the left, another white man violently restrains a slave who lies face down on the floor., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 23., Caption underneath the image reads: "Sometimes a slave is tied up by the wrists, while the ancles [sic] are fastened to a staple in the floor. In this position, they are punished with the whip or with the paddle. This is an instrument of torture bored full of holes, each hole raising a blister.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1837]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 23, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2755
- Title
- [Thomas Cooper]
- Description
- Image depicts Thomas Cooper, a Maryland slave who escaped to Philadelphia, where he settled, found work, married, and raised a family. In this scene, Cooper's former owner, having learned of his whereabouts, has seized and handcuffed him, and is taking him back to Maryland. His wife and children beg for his release in vain. According to the accompanying text, Cooper's Philadelphia employers had offered to pay the slaveowner a large sum in return for his release, but their offer was refused., Cover of the American Anti-Slavery Reporter, vol. 1, no. 3 (March, 1834), p. 33., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Creator
- Brown, G. L., engraver
- Date
- [March 1834]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 247 75432.O v 1 n 3 front cover, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2861
- Title
- The poor mother
- Description
- Image portrays a distraught mother kneeling on a rock on the coast of Africa. She watches and gestures in vain as her children are ferried off in a boat by slavetraders., Illustration in the Slave's Friend (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836), vol. 1, no. 3 (1836), p 3., Image accompanied by a plea in verse-form, which begins as follows: "HELP! oh help! thou God of Christians / Save a mother from despair; / Cruel white-men steal my children, / God of Christians! hear my prayer.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1836]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per S 63 54051.D v 1 n 3 p 3, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2885
- Title
- The praying child
- Description
- Kneeling in a field, a child slave dressed in a loose smock clasps her hands together in prayer. A basket rests beside her., Cover page of the Slave's Friend (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836), vol. 1, no. X (1836)., Accompanied by the following verse: "Poor little slave! to thee was given / Thy simple, earnest trust in Heaven. / Pour out thy griefs to God above! / He hears thee with a Father's love.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1836]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per S 63 54051.D v 1 n X cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2886
- Title
- A slave-ship
- Description
- Engraving shows two slave-traders as they throw a slave overboard. Two other slaves struggle in the ocean. This woodcut is a slightly altered version of the same scene appearing in "The Liberator," January 7, 1832. The original text notes the ship is a Brazilian slaver. Brazil collected duty on all imported slaves, and slave ship captains tossed sickly and likely unsalable slaves overboard before arrival to avoid paying the duty on them., Illustration in the Slave's Friend (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836), vol. 1, no. X (1836), p. 14-15., Image is accompanied by a poem, which begins as follows: "Oh! I have don a cursed deed, / The wretched man replies, / And night and day, and every where, / 'Tis still before my eyes.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1836]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per S 63 54051.D v 1 n X p 14-15, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2887
- Title
- "Deliver us from evil!"
- Description
- A slaveowner with a whip in his hand towers over three black children in chains and shackles who kneel at his feet., Vignette in Lydia Childs's the Oasis (Boston: Benjamin C. Bacon: Tuttle and Weeks, printers, No. 8, School Street, 1834), p. 20., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Creator
- Hall, John H., engraver
- Date
- [1834]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1834 Chi 70173.D.5 p 20, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2733
- Title
- African mother on a rock
- Description
- Yarrima, an African mother, watches in despair as her son, Yazoo, is whisked away on the white man's boat., Illustration in Lydia Childs's the Oasis (Boston: Benjamin C. Bacon: Tuttle and Weeks, printers, No. 8, School Street, 1834), p. 28., Caption underneath the illustration reads: "Yarrima climbed to the highest rock, and saw the white man's boat moving rapidly over the waves.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Creator
- Hall, John H., engraver
- Date
- [1834]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1834 Chi 70173.D.5 p 28, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2734
- Title
- Shooting scene
- Description
- Engraving shows a slave being hunted by three men with dogs and guns., Illustration in Lydia Childs's the Oasis (Boston: Benjamin C. Bacon: Tuttle and Weeks, printers, No. 8, School Street, 1834), p. 265., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Creator
- Croome, William, 1790-1860, engraver
- Date
- [1834]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1834 Chi 70173.D.5 p 265, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2738
- Title
- [Consequences of emancipation]
- Description
- In the foreground center, a black man reads aloud from the Bible while a girl kneels and prays before him. In their immediatie proximity, a mother holds her two small children. Behind them, several figures perform various chores and tasks. A group congregates in the middle-ground, and what looks to be a representation of Monticello is visible in the background., Front cover of the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1837 (Boston: Published by N. Southard & D.K. Hitchcock, 1836)., Two captions appear underneath the image: "A sketch from God's description of the 'Consequences of Emancipation.' Psa. 58." and "We hold these truths to be self-evident -- that all men are created equal.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1836]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1836 Ame Ant 16996.D cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2745
- Title
- Tearing up free papers
- Description
- A man restrains a free Southern black woman as another man destroys the papers that attest to her freedom. The woman's small child stands beside her. In the background, at least two figures are visible behind bars., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 7., Caption underneath the image reads: "In the Southern States, every colored person is presumed to be a slave, till proved to be free; and they are often robbed of the proof.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1837]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 7, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2750
- Title
- [Family ties broken up]
- Description
- A black man in tattered clothing is dragged away from his family by four white men acting on behalf of his purchaser. The man's wife and three small children have been purchased by another slaveholder, and the family will be separated., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 15., Caption underneath the image reads: "The purchaser of the husband has sent to have him dragged away. As he does not wish for the 'balance' of the family, they have been taken by different purchasers.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1837]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 15, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2751
- Title
- [Mother taken away]
- Description
- Having been sold by her former mistress ("a wicked woman, a slaveholder, and a member of the Presbyterian church") to a new owner, a Kentucky slave shrieks and cries as she is torn away from her two children, ages seven and nine. The woman's new owner smokes and calmly looks on., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 17., Verse underneath the image reads: "Ev'n her babes, so dear, so young, / And so treasured in her heart, / That the cords which round them clung, / Seemed its life, its dearest part; / These, ev'n these, were torn away! / These, that, when all else were gone, / Cheered the heart with one bright ray, / That still bade its pulse beat on!", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1837]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 17, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2752
- Title
- A slave caught without a pass
- Description
- This night-time scene depicts an overseer, who, having come upon a slave who left his plantation without a pass, forces the slave to dance for the amusement of himself and his two companions. As the slave dances, the overseer cracks a whip at his feet., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. V (May, 1836), whole no. 17, p. 1., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [May 1836]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 5 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2850
- Title
- The nation's act
- Description
- A free black man who has been kidnapped is auctioned before a crowd of white bidders. A small black child sits on the auction block. In the background, other kidnapped free blacks wait to be sold into slavery. A building marked "JAIL" is visible in the distant background., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 7., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1838]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 7, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2760
- Title
- Do the slaves desire their liberty?
- Description
- A male slave hangs from a tree by a rope tied around his wrists. He also holds a log between legs. A slaveowner moves to hit him with a large paddle. A small house and what appears to be a church are visible in the background., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. I, no. 3 (March, 1835), p. 25., Caption reads: A punishment, practised in the United States, for the crime of loving liberty., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [March 1835]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 16998.D v 1 n 3 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2855
- Title
- The cruelties of slavery
- Description
- Holding a whip in his right hand, a slaveowner moves to strike a female slave kneeling beneath him. The slave reaches her arms toward her baby, who dangles by one wrist from the slaveowner's left hand. To the right, another slaveowner looks on as mother and child are separated. In the left background, four bound slaves march off in single file., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. I, no. 5 (May, 1835), p. 49., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [May 1835]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 16998.D v 1 n 5 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2856
- Title
- The desperation of a mother
- Description
- With an axe in one hand and a candle in the other, a slave woman kneels in the cramped attic space where her two young sons sleep on the floor. Hovering above the boys, she shines her light upon them before killing them. According to an accompanying text, she then kills herself., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. I, no. 9, p. 97., Small caption underneath the image reads: "Why do you narrate the extraordinary cases of cruelty? These stories will not convert the cruel, and the wound the feelings of masters who are not son." REPLY. Cruelty is the fruit of the system., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [September 1835]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 16998.D v 1 n 9 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2858
- Title
- The flogging of females
- Description
- This scene is set in the West Indies. A female slaveowner dressed in colonial attire whips the back of a female slave who is hunched forward and whose hands appear to be bound. To the left, another white female sits in a chair and watches. To the right, three West Indians -- a man, a woman, and a child -- look on in horror., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol I, no. 10 (October, 1835), p. 109., Small caption underneath the image reads: "What ! -- the whip on WOMAN's shrinking flesh!", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [October 1835]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 16998.D v 1 n 10 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2859
- Title
- What has the North to do with slavery?
- Description
- Image is set in the North. It appears to show Southern slaveowners forcibly removing escaped slaves from their homes, and returning them into their custody., Title page illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838)., Two captions underneath the image read: "What has the North do to with slavery?" and "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1838]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 title page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2768
- Title
- John Bull's monarchy a refuge from Brother Jonathan's slavery
- Description
- Image criticizes a resolution adopted in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 10, 1828, which called for the President to initiate an agreement with the British Government whereby fugitive slaves taking refuge in Canada would be surrended to their masters, given proof of ownership., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 9., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1838]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 9, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2761
- Title
- Colored scholars excluded from schools
- Description
- Standing on the front steps of a school building, a schoolmaster prevents a free black woman and her two children from entering. A line of white children, however, enter the school without incident., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 13., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1838]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 13, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2762
- Title
- Colored schools broken up, in the free states
- Description
- Depicts an attack on a school established by Prudence Crandall in Caterbury, Connecticut that was destroyed by a white mob in September 1834. Image shows a mob of whites raiding, torching, and throwing cobblestones at a building whose sign reads "School for colored girls." At the left, two young girls exit the side door of the school., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 15., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1838]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 15, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2763
- Title
- "Nuisances" going as "missionaries," "with their own consent"
- Description
- Illustration shows a group of free blacks being forcibly deported to Liberia. Standing in line, these Northern blacks wait to board the ship. A man who tries to flee is being chased by the authorities., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 29., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1838]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 29, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2767
- Title
- An emancipated family
- Description
- Domestic scene showing the household of an emancipated black family. In the center of the scene, a woman stands with her infant child. She is flanked by her young son, who stands to the left, and by her husband and a third child, who are seen at the right. Seated on a low stool, the husband reads from a book, presumably the Bible. Some work gear and instruments hang on the wall: a basket, a straw hat, and two hoes. Another family can be seen through an open doorway, and a church is visible in the distant background., Cover page of the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1836 (Boston: Published by Webster & Southard, c1835)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [c1835]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1835 Am Ant 65753.D cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2741
- Title
- Views of slavery Does the slaveholder admit the slave to be a human being? If so we would ask his interpretation of the following sentiment "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do you even so to them."
- Description
- Abolitionist print containing six scenes depicting the inhumanity of slavery. Scenes include enslaved African American children crying while their mothers work and a white man enslaver whips an enslaved man in a sugar plantation field; the punishment of enslaved people by flogging, whipping, and binding by white men overseers in a shack; an auction of enslaved people; a free African American woman with a child watching the destruction of her free papers as she is kidnapped from the street; an anguished enslaved mother being separated from her children by a white man involved in the slave trade; and the shipping of enslaved people to New Orleans from a Baltimore dock. Also contains an excerpt about the rights of human beings from William Ellery Channing's abolitionist text, "On Slavery," below the image., Title from item., Advertised in the New York American Anti-Slavery Society newspaper, Emancipator (March 1836), p.3., Purchase 2003., RVCDC, 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., Lib. Company. Annual report, 2003, p. 45-46.
- Date
- [1836]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1836 Vie [P.2003.10], http://www.lcpimages.org/afro-americana/F-Views.htm