Am I not a man and a brother?

Am I not a man and a brother?

Abolition Movement
African Americans
Broadsides
Slavery
Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions
Whittier, John Greenleaf
Woodcuts

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.

Whittier, John Greenleaf

URL: https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661312/

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

1837

American Anti-Slavery Society
Anti-Slavery Office (New York, N.Y,)

No known restrictions on publication.

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

English

New York

1 print : woodcut on wove paper

26.7 x 22.8 cm