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Slavery

These “image essays” gather together striking images on the same theme from across the books in the exhibit.

In observing the wider world, American authors treated slavery primarily as an institution of the Americas. Depictions of the transatlantic slave trade became rare once Britain prohibited the trade in 1807 and the United States did so in 1808. But slavery remained part of the landscape of the Americas, sometimes condemned as abominable and sometimes accepted as normal, mirroring a growing controversy over the status of slavery in the United States.

Hover over any image to see source information; right click on any image to see a larger version; look under Research Resources for guides to all images in the digital exhibit.

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