Lesson 6 Document 18
TITLE: Anthony Burns / John
Andrews, sc.
CALL NUMBER: PGA -
Andrews--Anthony Burns (B size) [P&P]
REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-90750
(b&w film copy neg.)
SUMMARY: A portrait of the fugitive
slave Anthony Burns, whose arrest and trial under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
touched off riots and protests by abolitionists and citizens of Boston in the
spring of 1854. A bust portrait of the twenty-four-year-old Burns, "Drawn
by Barry from a daguereotype [sic] by Whipple and Black," is surrounded by
scenes from his life. These include (clockwise from lower left): the sale of the
youthful Burns at auction, a whipping post with bales of cotton, his arrest in
Boston on May 24, 1854, his escape from Richmond on shipboard, his departure
from Boston escorted by federal marshals and troops, Burns's "address"
(to the court?), and finally Burns in prison. Copyrighting works such as prints
and pamphlets under the name of the subject (here Anthony Burns) was a common
abolitionist practice. This was no doubt the case in this instance, since by
1855 Burns had in fact been returned to his owner in Virginia.
MEDIUM: 1 print on wove paper:
wood engraving with letterpress ; sheet 42.8 x 33.2 cm.
CREATED/PUBLISHED: [Boston] : R.M.
Edwards, printer, 129 Congress Street, Boston, c1855. CREATOR:
NOTES: Title from item. "Entered ... 1855, by
Anthony Burns ... Massachusetts." The Library's impression was
deposited for copyright on January 25, 1855. DLC Published in: American
political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry
1855-3.
TOPICS:
Abolitionism
and abolitionists.
Boston.
Burns,
Anthony.
Fugitive
Slave Act.
Slaves
and slavery.
FORMAT:
Portrait
prints 1850-1860.
Wood
engravings 1850-1860.
REPOSITORY: Library of
Congress
