2008661312

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TITLE: Am I not a man and a brother?

CALL NUMBER: Broadside Collection, portfolio 118, no. 32a c-Rare Bk Coll

REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-44265 (b&w film copy neg. of detail of man and banner)
LC-USZC4-5321 (color film copy transparency)
LC-USZCN4-250 (color film copy neg.)

RIGHTS INFORMATION: No known restrictions on publication.

SUMMARY: The large, bold woodcut image of a supplicant male slave in chains appears on the 1837 broadside publication of John Greenleaf Whittier's antislavery poem, "Our Countrymen in Chains." The design was originally adopted as the seal of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery in England in the 1780s, and appeared on several medallions for the society made by Josiah Wedgwood as early as 1787. Here, in addition to Whittier's poem, the appeal to conscience against slavery continues with two further quotes. The first is the scriptural warning, "He that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. "Exod[us] XXI, 16." Next the claim, "England has 800,000 Slaves, and she has made them free. America has 2,250,000! and she holds them fast!!!!" The broadside is advertised at "Price Two Cents Single; or $1.00 per hundred.

MEDIUM: 1 print : woodcut on wove paper ; 26.7 x 22.8 cm.

CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1837.

NOTES:

N.Y. sold at the Anti-Slavery Office, 144 Nassau St. 1837.

Title appears as it is written on the item.

Wedgwood Portraits and the American Revolution, p. 116-117.

Reference copy in: LOT 4422-A.

Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1837-16.

SUBJECTS:

Whittier, John Greenleaf,--1807-1892.
Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Dominions--1830-1840.
African Americans--1830-1840.
Abolition movement--1830-1840.
Slavery--1830-1840.

FORMAT:

Broadsides 1830-1840.
Woodcuts 1830-1840.

REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID: (digital file from b&w film copy neg. of detail of man and banner) cph 3a44497 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a44497
(digital file from color film copy neg.) cph 3j00250 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3j00250
(digital file from color film copy transparency) cph 3g05321 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3g05321

CONTROL #: 2008661312

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