african americans

The life and dying speech of Arthur, a negro man who was executed at W...

Positive Photostat.; Title. Available also through the Library of Congress web site in two forms: as facsimile page images and as full text in SGML. Printed Ephemera Collection; Portfolio 36, Folder 26.

An address to the public, from the Pennsylvania Society for promoting ...

An address to the public, from the Pennsylvania Society for promoting ...

Title.; Imprint 2.; Franklin, B.; Not in Evans. Available also through the Library of Congress web site in two forms: as facsimile page images and as full text in SGML. Printed Ephemera Collection; Portfolio 14... more

An address to the public, from the Pennsylvania Society for promoting ...

Letter, Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker expressing his belief th...

Reproduction number: A54 (color slide); LC-MSS-27748-21 (B&W negative) While serving as secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), one of Virginia's largest planters and slaveholders, wrote this 30 Augus... more

The progress of freedom. On the 6th of April St. Louis elected a mayor...

Available also through the Library of Congress web site in two forms: as facsimile page images and as full text in SGML. Printed Ephemera Collection; Portfolio 71, Folder 23.

Henry Clay's bulbous panteloons sic or where the coffee went to

Drawing shows an Anglo-African (or African American) cabin boy named "Henry Clay" on board a ship; he has been caught by another sailor with a stash of stolen coffee that he has hidden in pantaloons. Title from... more

Home incidents, accidents, &c. The colored voter ; Pursuit of a breakf...

Illustrations that accompany twelve stories of mishaps and curiosities including an African American Union soldier wrongly denied the right to vote, a Romani woman earning money telling fortunes, an explosion a... more

Life in Philadelphia. At home drawn on stone by H. Harrison

Title inscribed in ink. This record contains unverified data from PGA shelflist card. Associated name on shelflist card: Harrison. Exchange; (DLC/PP-1973:254).

[Iron mask, collar, leg shackles and spurs used to restrict slaves]

Illus. in: The penitential tyrant / Thomas Branagan. New-York: Printed by Samuel Wood, no. 362, Pearl-street, 1807. Reference copy in: LOT 4422-A-3.

This plate is respectfully dedicated to all the butchers in the United...

A procession of butchers led by two Negro fiddlers, and featuring a large bull. On the ground before the bull are a cleaver, saw, and other butcher tools. The print is dedicated to Pennsylvania's recently elec... more

Receipt for African American slave

James Monroe Papers: Oversized, 1802-1819, Series 4, Addenda, 1778-183...

Reply to bobalition of slavery

One of several racist parodies of black American illiteracy, dialect, and manners issued in Boston at various times between 1819 and 1832. Others in the series are "Grand Bobalition or Great Annibersary Fussibl... more

Grand bobalition, or "Great anniversary fussible"

Another in the "bobalition" series of broadsides parodying the manners, illiteracy, and dialect of Boston blacks. (See no. 1819-2.) The illustration shows a black militia troop marching from left to right. The ... more

[Town plan for Mesurado, Liberia]

American Colonization Society Papers. Published in: The African-American mosaic, a Library of Congress resource guide for the study of black history and culture / Debra Newman Ham, ed. Washington, D.C. : Librar... more

Title page of a pamphlet: A Plan for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery ...

Illus. in: A Plan for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in the United States, without Danger or Loss to the Citizens of the South (Baltimore: Benj. Lundy, 1825), title page. Reference copy may be in LCQJ, Spring... more

Grand celebrashun ob de bobalition ob African slaver!!!

Another in the "bobalition" series of broadsides parodying the manners, illiteracy, and dialect of Boston blacks. (See no. 1819-2.) This one is facetiously dated "Uly 14, 1825, 6 month and little more beside," ... more

Land, negroes, stock, &c. for sale ... W. H. Barksdale, Haw-Branch, Am...

Auction.; Imprint 2.; On verso: 135.47 Available also through the Library of Congress web site in two forms: as facsimile page images and as full text in SGML. Printed Ephemera Collection; Portfolio 186, Folder 6.

Dreadful Riot on Negro Hill!

Another in the "bobalition" series of broadsides, parodying black manners, illiteracy, and dialect. (See no. 1819-2.) The text describes, in the words of a "letter from Phillis to her sister in the country," a ... more

A monday morning view of Friends meeting house and academy, Philada. f...

Print shows many Quakers and others walking along the sidewalk in front of the Friends' Meeting House and Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; also shows two African American children with a large pig on the ... more

Life in Philadelphia. Plate 11 C

Print shows an African American woman, wearing a very large hat, in a shop trying to purchase a pair of stockings. Title from item. Plate XI. Caption: "Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings, young man?" ... more

Life in Philadelphia. Plate 13 / Clay fecit 1829.

Print shows an African American couple walking on the street; the woman asks the man whether he likes the waltz. Exchange; (DLC/PP-1973:253). Title from item. Caption: "How you like de waltz, Mr. Lorenzo?" "'... more

Boston minstrels. The celebrated Ethiopian melodies ...

Music cover illustrated with caricatures of six minstrels in two scenes.

The crow quadrilles--Arranged for the pianoforte by Robt. Ashley, Esq....

Music cover with seven vignettes of caricatures of African-Americans.

Life in Philadelphia. How you like de new fashiom shirt, Miss Florinda...

Print shows a garishly dressed African American man talking with a garishly dressed African American woman in a parlor. Title from item. Caption continues: I tink dey mighty elegum I see you on new year day wh... more

The aristocracy of color

Signed in stone: J. Cn. Title appears as it is written on the item. Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Soloque. Emperor of Hayti, creating a grand duke

Published & for sale by J.L. Magee, no. 34 Mott St, NY. Title appears as it is written on the item. Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Like master like man / E.W. Clay del.

Print shows two African American men, with their seconds, about to fight a duel with pistols at close range.

United States slave trade, 1830

An abolitionist print possibly engraved in 1830, but undocumented aside from the letterpress text which appears on an accompanying sheet. The text reads: "United States' slave trade, 1830. The Copper Plate from... more

Much ado about nothing or a militia court-martial!!

A satire on the pretensions and general decadence of the American local militia during the Jacksonian era. A man on a witness stand (far left) is questioned by a court-martial. Several officers sit around a tab... more

Bobalition of slavery

Another in the series of "bobalition" broadsides, marking the July 14 celebration of the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. (See no. 1819-2). The text, facetiously dated "Uly 14teenth 18 hundred ... more

Title page, with no illus., in Nat Turner, The confessions, Richmond, ...

Illus. in: The confessions of Nat Turner... Richmond : Thomas R. Gray, 1832, title page. No file print. This record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: US Hist 1831 (Sothampt... more

Ladies whipping girls

A white woman whipping a slave girl. Illus. in: Picture of slavery in the United States of America / George Bourne. Middletown, Conn. : E. Hunt, 1834, p. 109. Reference copy in: LOT 4422-A-3.

Family amalgamation among the men-stealers

African American children serving food to a white family. Illus. in: Picture of slavery in the United States of America / George Bourne. Middletown, Conn. : E. Hunt, 1834, p. 91. Reference copy in: LOT 4422-A-2.

"The government." No. 1, [Eye] take the responsibility

A satire on Andrew Jackson's "Kitchen Cabinet," the pejorative name given his informal circle of close advisors. The print appeared during the heated controversy incited by Jackson's discontinuation of federal ... more

100 dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living near Charlest...

Title.; Reward. Available also through the Library of Congress web site in two forms: as facsimile page images and as full text in SGML. Printed Ephemera Collection; Portfolio 186, Folder 26.

The battle at Bunker's Hill near Boston. June 17, 1775 / John Trumbull...

Print shows British and American soldiers in hand-to-hand combat during the Battle of Bunker Hill; among the soldiers depicted are Major General Joseph Warren, Captain Thomas Gardner, Major Andrew McClary, Colo... more

Jinnoowine [i.e. "genuine"] Johnson ticket. "Carrying the war into Afr...

An illustrated election ticket for the presidential campaign of 1836. Oddly, the ticket lists Ohio's Democratic electors for Van Buren while making a vicious and obscene slur on the wife of his running-mate Ri... more

Long tail blue / Willig's lith.

Music cover showing man wearing top hat and coat with tails, holding monocle and walking stick.

The crow quadrilles. Piano forte by John H. Hewitt / N. Currier's lith...

Music cover with eight vignettes of caricatures of blacks. Currier & Ives : a catalogue raisonné / compiled by Gale Research. Detroit, MI : Gale Research, c1983, no. 1436.

The disappointed abolitionists

Three men at left, one saying, "Verily friend Darg since we have returned thee thy money, I claim the reward of $1000 - Brother Barney Corse was merely my agent, verily!" Another "Yea verily I was but thy instr... more

The new code of chivalry or what we would have done. As approved by "...

The second of two satires by Chambers on events surrounding the killing of Maine Congressman Jonathan Cilley by Kentucky Representative William J. Graves in a February 24, 1838, duel. (See also "Scene in Washin... more

Abolition frowned down

A satire on enforcement of the "gag-rule" in the House of Representatives, prohibiting discussion of the question of slavery. Growing antislavery sentiment in the North coincided with increased resentment by so... more

St. Crispin's celebrated vegetable paste blacking

Print shows six circular labels, possibly intended for the top of a round container of blacking paste, showing a man shielding his eyes as he reaches for a boot, freshly blacked with "St. Crispin's celebrated v... more

Matty's perilous situation up Salt River

A pro-Whig satire on the presidential campaign of 1840. Martin Van Buren is neck-deep in the waters of "Salt River," a colloquial term for political misfortune or failure. He sinks under the weight of boxes m... more

Fanny Elssler and the Baltimoreans

A scornful look at the reception of German ballerina Fanny Elssler in Baltimore. The New York artist ridicules the adulation given the touring performer by the Baltimore public. During her July 1840 visit there... more

Hon. & Rev. B.R. Wilson of Monrovia, Liberia, died Oct. 9, 1864 / Phot...

Photograph shows portrait of B.R. Wilson, Methodist missionary to Liberia. Title from item.

[The battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17th 1775] / [painted by J. Trumbul...

Print shows British and American soldiers in hand-to-hand combat during the Battle of Bunker Hill; among the soldiers depicted are Major General Joseph Warren, Captain Thomas Gardner, Major Andrew McClary, Colo... more

Slavery abolished by the laws of nature!!! Negroes not of the same spe...

Available also through the Library of Congress web site in two forms: as facsimile page images and as full text in SGML. Printed Ephemera Collection; Portfolio 155, Folder 24.

Ginger blue, a popular Negro melody, composed & sung by Mr. R.W. Pelha...

Music cover showing boy dancing in dilapidated room, with kettle in fireplace.

$200 Reward. Ranaway from the subscriber, on the night of Thursday, th...

Reward offered by Wm. Russell for apprehension of the slaves, St. Louis, 1 Oct. 1847. Reference copy may be in LOT 4422-A. This record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: BI;... more

[Farmers nooning, from the original picture in the possession of Jona....

Print shows workmen resting in the shade of a tree, one man is sharpening a tool, an African American man reclining on a stack of hay, a young boy is leaning over the stack, tickling the man's ear with a piece ... more

[Farmers nooning, from the original picture in the possession of Jona....

Print shows workmen resting in the shade of a tree, one man is sharpening a tool, an African American man reclining on a stack of hay, a young boy is leaning over the stack, tickling the man's ear with a piece ... more

[Farmers nooning, from the original picture in the possession of Jona....

Print shows workmen resting in the shade of a tree, one man is sharpening a tool, an African American man reclining on a stack of hay, a young boy is leaning over the stack, tickling the man's ear with a piece ... more

[Farmers nooning, from the original picture in the possession of Jona....

Print shows workmen resting in the shade of a tree, one man is sharpening a tool, an African American man reclining on a stack of hay, a young boy is leaning over the stack, tickling the man's ear with a piece ... more

Trouble in the Spartan ranks. Old Durham in the field

A complex and somewhat obscure satire celebrating the defeat of Dorrite Democrats in the Rhode Island state elections of spring 1843. The canvass was held the year following the successful suppression of the Do... more

[Farmers nooning, from the original picture in the possession of Jona....

Print shows workmen resting in the shade of a tree, one man is sharpening a tool, an African American man reclining on a stack of hay, a young boy is leaning over the stack, tickling the man's ear with a piece ... more

[Farmers nooning, from the original picture in the possession of Jona....

Print shows workmen resting in the shade of a tree, one man is sharpening a tool, an African American man reclining on a stack of hay, a young boy is leaning over the stack, tickling the man's ear with a piece ... more

Race between Bennett and Greely for the Post Office stakes

A satire on the competition between rival editors Horace Greeley and James Gordon Bennett for New York post office printing contracts. The artist also comments on the circulation wars between Bennett's "New Yor... more

[Farmers nooning, from the original picture in the possession of Jona....

Print shows workmen resting in the shade of a tree, one man is sharpening a tool, an African American man reclining on a stack of hay, a young boy is leaning over the stack, tickling the man's ear with a piece ... more

[Farmers nooning, from the original picture in the possession of Jona....

Print shows workmen resting in the shade of a tree, one man is sharpening a tool, an African American man reclining on a stack of hay, a young boy is leaning over the stack, tickling the man's ear with a piece ... more

Loco Foco triumphal honors

A mock triumphal procession ridiculing "Loco Foco" or radical Democratic support of candidates James K. Polk and George M. Dallas. The Loco Focos are portrayed as ragged Irishmen, carrying the two candidates on... more

The celebrated Congo minstrels' songs / Thayer & Co's lith., Boston.

Music cover showing five minstrels on stage. Copyright by C.H. Keith.

Colored individuals along the road side

Drawing shows an African American slave woman leaning against a split rail fence along with three children. She says, "Oh I so glad you come, 'massa says he wish you were in da bottom of the sea--but you ain't ... more

Virginia Melodies - a selection of the most popular national airs arra...

Music cover showing African American with flute. LOT subdivision subject: Negro Minstrels. Title and other information transcribed from caption card and item. Lithograph by T. Sinclair Lith., Phila. Drawn by W.... more

Christian union / T. Sinclair's lith., Phil.

Print shows nine men of different Christian denominations gathered around bible; lion and lamb in foreground, Native American man and African American man in background.

The Massachusetts hoar, outwitted, or hopping-John, and Johnny-cake, f...

An imaginative but puzzling commentary on sectional tensions over slavery between New England abolitionists and southern agrarian slaveholders. In his sweeping satire the artist also portrays a considerable hos... more

Wake up there! What'r ye "bout? O.K

Print shows two men on horseback, the African American man appears to be having trouble with his horse. 163 U.S. Copyright Office. Title from item. Publication date based on copyright statement on item. Printed... more

Whitlock's collection of Ethiopian melodies. As sung with great applau...

Music cover showing two men on stage, one dancing and one playing banjo.

Fantasia and variations on the Ethiopian air The rose of Alabama, op. ...

cover page only From: Music Copyright Deposits, 1820-1860 (Microfilm M 3106) Also available through the Library of Congress Web Site as facsimile page images. (additional physical form) In bound volumes: Copyri... more

The tree of liberty. The free population of the United States enjoyin...

A somewhat puzzling commentary on two issues: slavery and economic protectionism. The date of the print is uncertain, but it may have appeared as part of the reaction against the Walker Tariff of 1846. A Northe... more

Jim Crow Jubilee

Sheet music cover illustration with caricatures of ragged African American musicians and dancers. LOT subdivision subject: Negro Minstrels. Title and other information transcribed from caption card and item. Co... more

The Liberty Almanac for 1847: [page with slave trade news (no illus.)]

Reference copy may be in LOT 4422A. This record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: African American hist. Slavery; Almanacs; African American hist. Emancipation; Shelf.

The telegraphic candidates

In a race between the railroad and the telegraph the "telegraphic candidates," Lewis Cass and William O. Butler, are first to the White House. The artist ridicules Zachary Taylor for his hazy stance on major ca... more

The candidate of many parties. A phrenological examination to ascertai...

Whig nominee Zachary Taylor's reluctance to clearly declare his political views was an issue eagerly exploited by the opposition in the 1848 campaign. Here the artist shows phrenologist Orson S. Fowler probing... more

Who says gas? Or the Democratic b-hoy

A pro-Democrat satire, pitting Democratic candidate Lewis Cass against Whig nominee Zachary Taylor in a bout for the presidency. Cass (center) is the obvious favorite. He wears the stovepipe hat, boots, bold pl... more

[Title page and frontispiece showing slave on top of mountain, with hi...

Illus. in: Walker's appeal, with a brief sketch of his life / by David Walker. New York : Printed by J.H. Tobitt, 1848, title page and frontispiece.

The Sabbath among slaves

Illustration showing Afro-American dancing, playing banjo, and resting. Illus. in: Narrative of the life and adventures of Henry Bibb, an American slave, New York, 1849, p. 38. Published in: The African-America... more

Daniel Carroll of Duddington's family on porch of house, F and 2nd Str...

Photograph shows members of the family of Daniel Carroll (1764-1849) with African American man, seated and standing on the porch of Duddington house, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. Caption from another copy of ... more

Evangelic measures

No accession number; "1628F" and "Apr. 47" on verso. Forms part of: Cabinet of American illustration (Library of Congress). Published in: Puck, June.

[Minister wearing spectacles]

Case: variant of Rinhart 114. Sitter's eyeglasses are gilt. Hidden witness : African-American images from the birth of photography to the Civil War / Jackie Napoleon Wilson. New York : St. Martin's Press, 1999.... more

The negro woman's appeal to her white sisters ... Richard Barrett, pri...

Verse. Available also through the Library of Congress web site in two forms: as facsimile page images and as full text in SGML. Printed Ephemera Collection; Portfolio 65, Folder 8.

[Frederick Douglass, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right]

Date and photographer information from: Picturing Frederick Douglass / John Stauffer. New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2015, p. 185.

The blessings of liberty or how to "hook" a "gentleman of color"

A diverse group of abolitionists try to drag an unwilling black man toward the left with a large gaff hook. Holding the hook are (left to right) an old hag, a Quaker man, and two other homely men. The hag dec... more

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

The opposition of Northern abolitionists, churchmen, and political figures to enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is criticized in this rare pro-Southern cartoon. In two panels artist Edward Williams ... more

Scenes from Uncle Tom's Cabin. First meeting of Uncle Tom and Eva T.W....

Print shows Uncle Tom sitting on a box, talking with Eva who is sitting on a large bale of cotton, on a dock with the smokestack of a steamboat in the background. Title from item. Printed at top: Scenes from Un... more

The fish question settled

A facetious, and somewhat racist, look at public opinion surrounding the controversy over American fishing rights in British-controlled waters off North America. (See also "John Bull's Fish Monopoly," no. 1852-... more

Buckingham Hall

Book title page and frontispiece showing large plantation house. Illus. in: "Uncle Tom's Cabin" contrasted with Buckingham Hall, the planter's home, or a fair view of both sides of the slavery question, by Robe... more

Pilgrims of the Rhine-O!

Whig presidential candidate Winfield Scott and his party pursue an abolitionist course leading toward Salt River and political doom. New York senator and antislavery advocate William Seward appears as a poodle ... more

[Title page of book showing Afro-American woman with bucket on head an...

Illus. in: Aunt Phillis's cabin; or southern life as it is, by Mrs. Mary H. Eastman. Philadelphia, 1852. Published in: The African-American mosaic, a Library of Congress resource guide for the study of black hi... more

A dish of "black turtle"

The cartoonist mocks the opportunism evident in Winfield Scott's endorsement of both the abolitionist cause and the Missouri Compromise. Scott, in military uniform, is seated at a table with a plate of soup be... more

[Sheet of sketches for the illustrated 1852 London edition of Uncle To...

Purchase; Warren Ewens; 1993; (DLC-PP/1993:162). Published in: Eyes of the nation : a visual history of the United States / Vincent Virga and curators of the Library of Congress ; historical commentary by Alan ... more

Eclipse & no eclipse or two views of one object

Two scenes showing the differing perceptions of Franklin Pierce's stand on the issue of slavery, as viewed by the North and South. The cartoon is divided vertically by "Mason & Dixon's Line." An arrow identifie... more

White seaman and cold. [e.g. colored] man on board steamboat on Potoma...

Sketch shows side-view portraits of a white seaman and an African American man aboard the steamboat that Wallis took from Washington, DC to Aquia Creek, Virginia. Wallis was a British Commissioner from the Fore... more

Winner's improved method for the violin

Music cover showing four black people--couple dancing in front of fireplace, man playing violin, and man standing in doorway.

$100 reward! Ranaway on the 27th of September last, from the farm of t...

Positive Photostat.; Reward. Available also through the Library of Congress web site in two forms: as facsimile page images and as full text in SGML. 2 duplicate copies Printed Ephemera Collection; Portfolio 18... more

Japanese Tommy

African American minstrel performer, aka Thomas Dilward.

State of Louisiana

Print shows the title page to "Ballou's Pictorial" for "Saturday, December 22, 1855" showing, at top, a view of Boston Harbor with sailing ships, steamboats, a rowboat, and a view of the city of Boston in the b... more

Old Bob Ridley; composed and sung by Chas. White

African American songs, illustrated music covers. LOT subdivision subject: Negro Minstrels. Title and other information transcribed from caption card and item. Copyright by Plawson. Caption card tracings: Nego... more