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Iconic - and Disturbing - Slave Ship Illustration |
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The illustrations show the disposition of several hundred slaves upon four cargo decks, each lying down and literally shoulder-to-shoulder as viewed from above and in cross-sectional views, giving the overall impression that not a single inch of cargo space was unused.
[Slavery/Slave Trade]. Print. Philadelphia: J.P. Parke, 1808. 1 p. 18 ½ x 13.
Inventory# 21631 $6,500
Historical Background:
Parke published British abolitionist Thomas Clarkson’s The History of the Rise, Progress, & Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-trade by the British Parliament (Philadelphia: J.P. Parke, 1808), with this image, which became iconic because it struck right at the core of the oppression and suffering of slaves during the Middle Passage. Clarkson published this book a year after Great Britain abolished the slave trade, and during the same year in which the United States followed suit.
References:
Chapin Library of Rare Books, Williams College.
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