Lesson 9 Document 3
TITLE: Am I not a man and a brother?
CALL NUMBER: Broadside Collection, portfolio 118, no. 32a <Rare
Bk Coll>[P&P]
REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZC4-5321 (color film copy
transparency)
LC-USZCN4-250 (color film copy neg.)
LC-USZ62-44265 (b&w film copy neg. of detail of man and banner)
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
(woodcut)
CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1837.
RELATED NAMES:
American Anti-Slavery Society.
Anti-Slavery Office (New York).
NOTES: Title appears as it is written on the item. N.Y. Sold at the
Anti-Slavery Office, 144 Nassau St. 1837
