Slavery

[Black slaves working in sugar mill. Hispaniola. Part 5, plate 2]

Illus. in: De Bay, Americae...1590. Reference copy may be in E141.B88. Reference copy may be in SSF (Gr) - Plantation crops Sugar, LOT 4410A. This record contains unverified, old data from caption card.

Michaeli de Ruyter, batavorum, architalasso, invincibili, incomparabil...

Print shows the body of Michiel de Ruyter lying on a bier in front of a memorial structure with two columns depicting scenes of naval victories. He is wearing a breastplate and is holding a sword and baton. Sev... More

W'rede straffe van een Planter aan zyn knegt

Planter whipping slave tied to tree. Illus. in: Exquemelin, Histoire der Boecaniers...(1700), facing p. 29. Reference copy may be in SSF (Gr) - Slavery 1700. This record contains unverified, old data from capti... More

[Slave factories, or compounds, maintained by traders from four Europe...

Illus. in: A New and general collection of voyages / Thomas Astley. London, 1746, vol. 3, p. 64.

The election, a medley, humbly inscribed to Squire Lilliput, professor...

Cartoon shows the old courthouse in Philadelphia during the October 1, 1764 election where a line of men wait at the steps on the right to enter the courthouse and cast their votes; in the foreground, many men,... More

Union, activity and freedom, or division, supineness and slavery. My d...

Positive Photostat. 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 103, Folder 33.

[Title page of An argument in the case of James Sommersett ...]

Text in: Hargrave, Francis. An argument in the case of James Sommersett,... London : Printed for the author and sold by W. Otridge ..., 1772, title page. Published in: Slavery in the courtroom : an annotated bi... More

Boston, April 20th, 1773. Sir. The efforts made by the legislative of ...

Positive Photostat.; Not in Evans.; Slavery. 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 37, Folder 16.

To the inhabitants of New York. My dear friends and fellow citizens. A...

Evans 13658.; On verso: 1774. 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 107, Folder 14a.

In Provincial congress, Concord, April 12, 1775. Whereas the preservat...

Photographic copy.; Stamped on verso: Mss Division.; On verso: Ac. 373. Available also through the Library of Congress web site in two forms: as facsimile page images and as full text in SGML. 2 duplicate copie... More

Address to the soldiers. Gentlemen. You are about to embark for Americ...

Stamped on verso: 452. 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 38, Fold... More

Prospect Hill. Bunker’s Hill. I. Seven dollars a month. - - I. Three p...

Propaganda hand bills.; Stamped on verso: 452. 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 Collec... More

General mourning

Print shows a well-dressed West Indian? couple with big smiles on their faces, in the background is a depressed man (a plantation owner?) holding a piece of paper on which is written "No more credit given by [?... More

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

Abolition of the slave trade, or the man the master

Illustration shows the reversal of roles for slaves and slave masters, with former slaves now in the role of the slave master. No known restrictions on publication. Forms part of British Cartoon Prints Collect... More

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

France. Britain. Freedom. Slavery

"A design in two compartments. On the left the triumph of Necker in a land of 'Freedom', in the other that of Pitt in a land of 'Slavery"..." (Source: George) [Gillray]. Price 2sh. This record contains unverifi... More

Excise inquisition erecting by English slaves under the scourge of the...

A British satire on an attempt by William Pitt and George Rose to transfer to excise law certain import duties; standing in opposition is Edward Thurlow. The central image shows Britannia, wrapped in a blanket ... More

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 gradual abolition off the slave trade or leaving of sugar by degre...

Print shows George III sitting at a table with the Queen and two of his daughters, and the Queen's Keeper of the Robes, Juliana Elizabeth Schwellenbergen holding a bottle of "Brandy", discussing the use of suga... More

The abolition of the slave trade Or the inhumanity of dealers in human...

Print shows sailor on a slave ship suspending an African girl by her ankle from a rope over a pulley. Captain John Kimber stands on the left with a whip in his hand. Title from item. Attributed to I. Cruikshank... More

Philanthropic Consolations, after the loss of the Slave-Bill

William Wilberforce and Samuel Horsley, Bishop of Rochester, cavort with two black women in a well-furnished room. Wilberforce and a woman, wearing a print dress with her breasts exposed, sit on a couch smoking... More

Printers' picture gallery. The following device is made up entirely of...

Anti-slavery.; 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 133, Folder 29.

Baltimore House, Dependency, 4811 Riverdale Road, Riverdale Park, Prin...

2000 Charles E. Peterson Prize, Entry Significance: This is the only surviving outbuilding of Riversdale, an 1801 plantation house in Prince George's County, Maryland. Dendochronology of its timbers suggests t... More

[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.

Maroon. Buckra reading their pass

Drawing shows a white man (Buckra) reading the pass of Maroons (runaway slaves) on a road. Title from item. Unpublished finding aid, Drawings of Jamaica by William Berryman, available in LC Prints & Photographs... More

The last act of slavery arrived. The new embargo law ...... (No. 6) [J...

Lower right hand corner wanting. 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 227, Folder 25.

A Lady going to visit

Illustration showing slaves carrying woman in sedan chair across street. Illus. in: Travels in Brazil / Henry Koster. London : Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1816, pl. opposite p. 188.

A Planter and his wife on a journey

Illustration showing two slaves carrying woman in sedan chair, slave woman with baggage on head, and planter riding horse on country road..

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

[Cuts] Bobalition of slavery. [Boston 1819].

Slavery.; Imprint 2. 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 52, Folder 13.

Reply to Bobalition of slavery. [Cuts] Dialogue between Scipio and Cat...

Imprint 2.; Slavery. 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 52, Folder 13a.

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

Gate & slave market at Pernambuco / drawn by Augs. Earle ; engraved by...

Includes view of Count Maurice's gate near slave market. Illus. in: Journal of a voyage to Brazil, and residence there, during part of the years 1821, 1822, 1823 / Maria Graham. London : Longman, Hurst, Rees, O... 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

The mode of flogging slaves

This record contains unverified data from PGA shelflist card. Note on shelflist card: Brit. XIXc. "as described in Bickell's "West Indies as they are", page 13" text after title. Plate mark indistinguishable.

United States' slave trade, 1830

Page of text describing an engraving that shows Black people in chains and shackles with the U.S. Capitol in the background.

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

James K. Polk Papers: Series 6: Notes, circa 1831-1847; Subject file; ...

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

Slavery. Freedom

"Two contrasted scenes divided by a huge cask in which stands, full-face, an obese and repulsive preacher with a heavy jowl, pig's eyes, and a thatch of hair over a low forehead..." (Source: George) This record... More

But soon as approaching the land,

Print shows a British slave owner with two slaves kneeling before him whom he was about to whip; Britannia appears with the radiant glow of a goddess, causing the man to drop his whip. Includes four lines from ... More

Colonization. A Card. The Rev. R. H. Breckenridge, the profundity of w...

Anti-slavery societies. 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 230, Folder 17.

Le collier de fer, châtiment des fugitifs ; Nègres en commission, par ...

Illustrations showing black fugitives wearing iron collars as punishment, two blacks wearing rain garments, and two slaves carrying tiles on their heads. Illus. in: Voyage pittoresque et historique au Brésil, d... More

Abduhl Rahhahman / H. Inman, Esqr, N.A., del. ; T. Illman, sculp.

Portrait of a West African prince known as Ibrahima, Prince of Slaves, and Abdu-l-Rahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori. He was captured as a war prisoner and became a slave in the United States for 40 years. He was freed in... 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.

Marchand de tabac ; L'aveugle chanteur ; Marchande de pandelos / J.B. ...

Illustrations showing men in chains (possibly fugitives or slaves) outside a tobacco shop; blind street singer; woman vendor selling food to men. Illus. in: Voyage pittoresque et historique au Brésil, depuis 18... More

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.

Esclaves nègres, de différentes nations / J.B. Debret, delt. ; lith. d...

Illustration showing faces of black women slaves from various tribes reflecting different styles of dress and adornment. Illus. in: Voyage pittoresque et historique au Brésil, depuis 1816 jusqu'en 1831 ... / pa... More

Boutique de la rue du Val-Longo / J.B. Debret, delt. ; lith. de Thierr...

Illustration showing interior of slave market.

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

Slavery and the Boston riot. The following letter was written, shortly...

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 56, Folder 15.

Martin Van Buren Papers: Series 3, Additional Correspondence, 1811-185...

Cash! All persons that have slaves to dispose of, will do well by givi...

Slaves- Sale. 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 27.

Portraits of Hannibal and Cyprian, with vignettes illustrating African...

An abolitionist print, asserting the nobility of the African peoples and deploring their inhumane treatment under the slave trade. There are two vignettes: "Treatment of the Africans" (top) showing African nati... More

Notice at the next regular meeting of the Upper Alton lyceum, to be he...

Slavery.; Imprint 2. 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 15, Folder 15.

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

The Secretary of War presenting a stand of colours to the 1st Regiment...

A bitter vilification of the Van Buren administration's use of bloodhounds to hunt fugitive Indians during the Second Seminole War in Florida. The artist condemns the racism and inhumanity of the measure, as w... More

[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.

Martin Van Buren Papers: Series 3, Additional Correspondence, 1811-185...

Exeter Hall, the great anti-slavery meeting, 1841 / T.H. Shepherd [del...

Print shows interior of Exeter Hall filled with a large crowd for the Anti-slavery Society meeting, London, England. Title from item. Le grande salle d'Exeter-Hall assemblie des amis des noirs : Die so-gennante... More

$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

American sympathy and Irish backguardism

A critical look at Irish Repeal movement leader Daniel O'Connell's condemnation of slavery in the United States. Clay portrays O'Connell's agitation against slavery as an affront to American friends of repeal, ... More

O'Connell's call and Pat's reply

A condemnation of Daniel O'Connell's agitation of Irish immigrants in the United States against slavery. The artist, certainly E.W. Clay, presents a loaded contrast between turbulent conditions in Ireland and t... More

Martin Van Buren Papers: Series 3, Additional Correspondence, 1811-185...

A sawney in Ireland trying to pass for an American gentleman

The "sawney" (i.e., fool or simpleton) is New York "Herald" editor James Gordon Bennett. The artist gives a comic portrayal of Bennett's celebrated public rebuff by O'Connell in the Corn Exchange in Dublin in A... More

Matty meeting the Texas question

A satire on the Democrats' approach to the delicate question of the annexation of Texas. In marked contrast to his portrayal of the issue as a beautiful woman in "Virtuous Harry" (no. 1844-27), the artist here ... More

Slavery and Liberty--- 'E. Pluribus unum!' [1844?].

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

United States Marshall branding the author

Illustration shows a U.S. Marshall branding the hand of Jonathan Walker with the initials SS for slave stealer. Illus. in: Trial and imprisonment of Jonathan Walker, at Pensacola, Florida, for aiding slaves to ... More

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

Common mode of whipping with the paddle

Man whipping slave as two other men and a child watch. Illus. in: Trial and imprisonment of Jonathan Walker, at Pensacola, Florida, for aiding slaves to escape from bondage. Boston : Pub. at the Anti-slavery of... 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

State of New Hampshire. Resolved by the Senate and House of representa...

On verso: 50940 '04. 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 93, Folder 18.

James K. Polk Papers: Series 8: Miscellaneous, 1827-1884; Chronologica...

James K. Polk Papers: Series 2, General Correspondence and Related Ite...

The Democratic funeral of 1848

Foreseeing political death for the Democrats in the election, the artist imagines a funeral of the party's standard-bearers with a procession of the faithful. Democratic senators (left to right) Sam Houston of ... More

Whig harmony

A severe split within the Whig ranks, between partisans of Henry Clay and those of Zachary Taylor, preceded the party's convention in June 1848. Here Horace Greeley, one of Clay's most influential northern supp... More

The fox hunt

Again Van Buren's flirtation with radical interests is portrayed as his downfall. As in "The Modern Colossus" (no. 1848-56) antislavery activist Abby Folsom (here "Abby Fulsome") is prominently featured. Here s... More

The great naval blockade of Round Island. Showing the immense importa...

A satire on Taylor administration efforts to curtail American "filibusters," armed expeditions against Cuba for the purpose of freeing the island from Spanish rule. Specific reference here is to the Navy's bloc... More

Slavery as it exists in America. Slavery as it exists in England

A challenge to the Northern abolitionist view of the institution of slavery, favorably contrasting the living conditions of American slaves (above) with the lot of the industrial poor in England (below). The fi... More

A bad egg for a southern stomach.

John C. Calhoun's speech to the United States Senate against the Compr...

Reproduction number: A20 (color slide; page 1) The famous South Carolinian John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) made his last Senate speech during the course of the great debate over the Compromise of 1850, a complicate... More

The hurly-burly pot

The artist attacks abolitionist, Free Soil, and other sectionalist interests of 1850 as dangers to the Union. He singles out for indictment radical abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, Pennsylvania Free Soil ad... More

Scene in Uncle Sam's Senate. 17th April 1850

A somewhat tongue-in-cheek dramatization of the moment during the heated debate in the Senate over the admission of California as a free state when Mississippi senator Henry S. Foote drew a pistol on Thomas Har... More

The Landscapes of the Battlefield of Franklin, Tennessee, The Carter H...

Significance: The Carter House was built in 1830 by Fountain Branch Carter. At the time, the town of Franklin was small, and the house and farm were surrounded by a rural setting. The Federal style brick farm... More

Campaign song.

Handwritten note across top of songsheet: First sung in the loft over Geirson & Walihaus in warehouse, by eh author, in may 1860. Handwritten note under composer credit: afterward Major General in U. S. Army.

To the people, who wish to do right! There are thousands of persons in...

Slavery. 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 22, Folder 23.

The Fugitive slave law. [Hartford, Ct.? : s.n., 185-?]

Text of the law.; Includes "Synopsis of the law," critical of the legislation, signed by S.M. Africanus, Hartford, Ct., and poem in three parts.; Fugitive slaves--United States.; Slavery--United States.; Afric... More

[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 apotheosis

The print is a fragment of a larger lithograph entitled "Invasion of Cuba," composed of two panels, applauding American "filibustering" expeditions to liberate Cuba from Spain. (See also "The Great Naval Blocka... More

Slavery! Wanted immediately, 300 able-bodied laborers! Above the age o...

On verso: 10-98-1009.1.60.23.; MC# 09-82-038.148. 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 ... 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

Harmony in the wigwam! Democracy of the right brand-y

A comic scene ridiculing the Tammany Democrats of New York City. Tammany headquarters, known as the "Wigwam," here erupts in a drunken fracas over the Democratic platform for the presidential race of 1852. The ... More

Position of the Democratic Party in 1852. "Freemen of America, how lon...

A crudely drawn satire bitterly attacking Democratic presidential candidate Franklin Pierce and appealing to the "Freemen of America." The print, possibly executed by a free black, criticizes the Democrats' pla... 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