From: Anonymous Seven
Date: 3/29/00
Time: 11:40:45 AM
Remote Name: 155.247.175.15
Anonymous Seven Week 10 Primary Source Assignment #2 The illustrations from the 1840 American Anti-Slavery Almanac were created in New York by the American Anti-Slavery Society as part of their annual publication featuring poems, drawings, essays, and other material concerning abolition. These illustrations were designed to show the horrors of slavery and the prejudiced behavior of many Americans. Those responsible for the broadside were attempting to stir up the immoral emotions of many in the south as well as the north. The illustrations offered a reflection of the wrongdoing by both sides. The slaves are portrayed as helpless and lost in the drawings. In the illustrations featuring captive blacks, they are either dead or found in an extreme situation. In an attempt to make the inequality as clear as possible the portrayals were particularly graphic. The effects of slavery leave the characters looking very empty. All of the slaves have heads that hang very low. The dominance of the slaveholders is quite clear. All of the whites are engaging in acts of oppression. The first illustration "Our Peculiar Domestic Instutions" represent an effect that slavery had on them. The image shows how Vicksburg and other areas of the South have lost a sense of civility. At the other end, the oppression downplayed in the North is exposed. The finest example is in "Northern Hospitality". The slave loses his chains leaving the slave state but a new set of chains await him in the free state.