Search results

Title: [Liberator masthead, 1831]
Description: As indicated by two signs, the vignette is set in a horse-market, and depicts an auction of "Slaves, Horses, & Other Cattle," complete with an auctioneer standing at a podium at the right. In the center of a small group consisting of slaves and potential bidders, a female slave covers her face in desperation as two small childen huddle around her. To her right, a male slave sits at the base of the podium. In a clear gesture of despair, he rests his elbows on his knees and holds his head in his hands. A domed building that appears to be a court-house is visible in the distant background. A large flag reading "LIBERTY" waves from its top., Masthead from the Liberator (Boston: William Lloyd Garrison and Isaac Knapp, Publishers), vol. 1, no. 27 (July 2, 1831), p. 105., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [July 1831]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per L 21 1646.F v 1 n 27 July 2 1831 p 105, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2880

Title: [Liberator masthead, 1838]
Description: Divided into two halves, the masthead vignette contrasts the consequences of slavery and the benefits of emancipation. Scene to the left is a reworking of the original masthead illustration of 1831 showing a slave auction with a slave being whipped in the background and a capitol building adorned with a flag reading "Liberty." A common graphic strategy of abolitionists was to picture scenes of slavery alongside symbols of American freedom such as the capitol, the flag, etc. In this revised version, the slave auction is set on Freedom St., and joining it on the right is a scene showing emancipated slaves enjoying the benefits of freedom. Added vignette commemorates the abolition of slavery in the British colonies., Masthead from the Liberator, ed. William Lloyd Garrison (Boston: Published weekly at no. 25 Cornhill by Isaac Knapp), vol. VIII, no. 9 (March 2, 1838), p. 33., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [March 1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per L 21 1646.F v VIII n 9 March 2 1838 p 33, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2881

Title: The lips of the wise disperse knowledge
Description: Set in a school room, the image shows a white schoolmaster, who appears to be teaching a group of young African American boys to read. Holding books, the boys are grouped around him., Cover page of the Slave's Friend (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836), vol. 1, no. 1 (1836)., Accompanied by the caption: "The lips of the wise disperse knowledge. -- Prov. xv.7.", 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 1 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2884

Title: The humanity of the Africo-Americans
Description: The setting is St. Domingo. A slave brings a basket of provisions to his owners, Monsieur and Madame Baillon, and appraises them of an imminent revolt by other slaves. The loyal slave aids the couple, their daughter and son-in-law, and their two white servants in making an escape., 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. III (March, 1836), whole no. 15, p. 1., Curator's note: Notice here the use of the term "Africo-Americans," used infrequently but persistently by some African Americans and abolitionists from at least the early 1830s through the Civil War period. Common usage of "blacks" and "Africans" was supplanted in the 1820s with "Negro" common among whites, and "Colored" among most African Americans. As in all the terms used to described black Americans over time, there is a nationalist-assimilationist dichotomy here, with "Africo-Americans" suggesting a separate nationality and culture, and "Colored" suggesting darker-hued members of the common American nation and culture., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [March 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 3 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2848

Title: The moral character of the Africo-Americans
Description: Set in New York, the image shows William Peterson, a black boy who prepares to rescue a white boy who has fallen through the ice while skating. Next him, a white boy supports another skater whom Peterson has saved from drowning. A few others continue to skate 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. II, no. IV (April, 1836), whole no. 16, p. 1., Small caption underneath the image reads: "William Peterson -- The Heroic Colored Boy.", Curator's note: Notice here the use of the term "Africo-Americans," used infrequently but persistently by some African Americans and abolitionists from at least the early 1830s through the Civil War period. The common usage of "blacks" and "Africans" was supplanted in the 1820s with "Negro" common among most whites, and "Colored" among most African Americans. As in all the terms used to describe black Americans over time, there is a nationalist-assimilationists dichotomy at work here, with "Africo-Americans" suggesting separate nationality and culture, and "Colored" suggesting darker-hued members of the common American nation and culture., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [April 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 4 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2849

Title: The runaway
Description: In the center of the image, a black barber from Buffalo urges a white ferryman to launch the boat that will carry a runaway Georgia slave and his family across the Niagara River to Canada. Just as the boat leaves shore, the slave's master arrives on horseback. Brandishing a pistol, he attempts to prevent their passage., 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. IV [VI] (June, 1836), whole no. 18, p. 1., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Fugitives.
Date: [June 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 6 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2851

Title: "Incendiary pictures"
Description: This commonplace cut of a slave on the auction block was mass produced for use in southern newspapers to advertise slave sales. It appears in "The Anti-Slavery Record" as a stroke of irony. Opponents of abolition denounced the antislavery movement for its agitational pamphlets and newspapers, and particularly for its use of what opponents termed "incendiary pictures" of southern slavery. The editors note: "The cast from which it was taken was manufactured in this city, for the southern trade, by a firm of stereotypers, who, on account of the same southern trade, refuse to stereotype the Record, because it contained just such pictures! Now, how does it come to pass, that this said picture when printed in southern newspapers is perfectly harmless, but when printed in the Anti-Slavery Records is perfectly incendiary?", Illustration in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. VII (July, 1836), whole no. 19, p. 12., Small caption underneath the image reads: Who bids?, Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [July 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 7 p 12, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2852

Title: How can it be done?
Description: Image depicts a mob of slaveholders who are raiding an abolitionist press. Members of the mob are dragging off a broken printing press., Illustration in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. IX (September, 1836), whole no. 21, p. 1., Curator's note: This is one of several antislavery graphics depicting the proslavery assault on the antislavery movement and their demand for the suppression of antislavery literature. This and several other illustrations link antislavery agitation to first amendment freedoms., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [September 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 9 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2853

Title: How slavery honors our country's flag
Description: Image shows a procession of enchained slaves marching in double file. The procession is led by two fiddlers, and toward the middle of the line, a slave waves an American flag. An overseer on horseback follows alongside the procession, cracking his whip., 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. 2 (February, 1835), p. 13., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [February 1835]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 16998.D v 1 n 2 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2854

Title: Scenes in the city prison of New York
Description: This scene is set in front of Bridewell prison in New York. The black man shown here is a Virginia slave who escaped to New York. Before being arrested as a fugitive, the man found employment and a loving wife, the woman who kneels in front of him. In this scene, the man is being released from prison into the custody of his owner, who plans to take him back to Virigina., 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. 7, p. 73., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [July 1835]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 16998.D v 1 n 7 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2857

Title: The runaway
Description: Full length, right profile view of a runaway slave dressed in a collared shirt and a buttoned jacket, and carrying a bundle on his back., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. III, no. VII (July, 1937), whole no. 31, p. 1., Small caption underneath the image reads: "This picture of a poor fugitive is from one of the stereotype cuts manufactured in this city for the southern market, and used on handbills offering rewards for runaway slaves.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Fugitives.
Date: [July 1837]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 16998.D v 3 n 7 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2860

Title: A fact with a short commentary
Description: Lunging forward onto his left knee, a slaveowner points a double-barreled rifle at a male slave who is stretched out on the ground beneath him. Propping himself up with his left arm, the slave uses his right arm to gesture toward the slaveowner in a protective manner. The slaveowner's hat, which rests on the ground, and an overturned table in the background suggest that the action has proceeded quickly. In the background, the slave's child watches from the doorway of his hut., 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. I (January, 1836), whole no. 13, p. 1., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [January 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 1 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2846

Title: History of the slave, James
Description: Image is set in the Philadelphia-area household of a family of freed and escaped slaves. Having located the family, the slaves' owner, shown in the center, has come with two assistants to reclaim a slave named James, the man who is being forced out of the door in the background right. James's mother, an elderly freed slave named Harriet, battles with her former owner in the center of the scene. She bears the breast she once used to nurse him and begs for mercy. Harriett's husband and James's wife appear to the left, while James and Harriett's newborn baby sleeps in a cradle to the right., 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. II (February, 1836), whole no. 14, p 1., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [February 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 2 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2847

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: 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: 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

Main menu