Maurie D. McInnis
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226559339
- eISBN:
- 9780226559322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226559322.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter discusses the spaces, places, and mechanics of the slave trade. These include the enslaved assistants of slave traders; slave auctions as public spectacles in Charleston, South Carolina; ...
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This chapter discusses the spaces, places, and mechanics of the slave trade. These include the enslaved assistants of slave traders; slave auctions as public spectacles in Charleston, South Carolina; the degrading physical inspection of slaves by traders; artists’ attempts to capture the sense of visual drama generated at auctions; and costuming as an essential part of the theater of the slave auction.Less
This chapter discusses the spaces, places, and mechanics of the slave trade. These include the enslaved assistants of slave traders; slave auctions as public spectacles in Charleston, South Carolina; the degrading physical inspection of slaves by traders; artists’ attempts to capture the sense of visual drama generated at auctions; and costuming as an essential part of the theater of the slave auction.
Maurie D. McInnis
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226559339
- eISBN:
- 9780226559322
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226559322.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
In 1853, Eyre Crowe, a young British artist, visited a slave auction in Richmond, Virginia. Harrowed by what he witnessed, he captured the scene in sketches that he would later develop into a series ...
More
In 1853, Eyre Crowe, a young British artist, visited a slave auction in Richmond, Virginia. Harrowed by what he witnessed, he captured the scene in sketches that he would later develop into a series of illustrations and paintings, including the culminating painting, Slaves Waiting for Sale, Richmond, Virginia. This book uses Crowe’s paintings to explore the texture of the slave trade in Richmond, Charleston, and New Orleans, the evolving iconography of abolitionist art, and the role of visual culture in the transatlantic world of abolitionism. Tracing Crowe’s trajectory from Richmond across the American South and back to London—where his paintings were exhibited just a few weeks after the start of the Civil War—the author illuminates not only how his abolitionist art was inspired and made, but also how it influenced the international public’s grasp of slavery in America. With almost 140 illustrations, the book brings a fresh perspective to the American slave trade and abolitionism as we enter the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.Less
In 1853, Eyre Crowe, a young British artist, visited a slave auction in Richmond, Virginia. Harrowed by what he witnessed, he captured the scene in sketches that he would later develop into a series of illustrations and paintings, including the culminating painting, Slaves Waiting for Sale, Richmond, Virginia. This book uses Crowe’s paintings to explore the texture of the slave trade in Richmond, Charleston, and New Orleans, the evolving iconography of abolitionist art, and the role of visual culture in the transatlantic world of abolitionism. Tracing Crowe’s trajectory from Richmond across the American South and back to London—where his paintings were exhibited just a few weeks after the start of the Civil War—the author illuminates not only how his abolitionist art was inspired and made, but also how it influenced the international public’s grasp of slavery in America. With almost 140 illustrations, the book brings a fresh perspective to the American slave trade and abolitionism as we enter the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.
Maurie D. McInnis
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226559339
- eISBN:
- 9780226559322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226559322.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter analyzes Eyre Crowe’s painting, Going South: A Sketch from Life in America, the first in his series about American slavery. The Going South movement begins on the left, as slaves are ...
More
This chapter analyzes Eyre Crowe’s painting, Going South: A Sketch from Life in America, the first in his series about American slavery. The Going South movement begins on the left, as slaves are marched from their jails after being purchased at auction, and continues with the railroad car that will take them far away from the city.Less
This chapter analyzes Eyre Crowe’s painting, Going South: A Sketch from Life in America, the first in his series about American slavery. The Going South movement begins on the left, as slaves are marched from their jails after being purchased at auction, and continues with the railroad car that will take them far away from the city.
Maurie D. McInnis
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226559339
- eISBN:
- 9780226559322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226559322.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter discusses the spaces, places, and mechanics of the slave trade. These include the use of red flags upon which are pinned small manuscript descriptions of slaves to be sold off; family ...
More
This chapter discusses the spaces, places, and mechanics of the slave trade. These include the use of red flags upon which are pinned small manuscript descriptions of slaves to be sold off; family separations caused by the interstate slave trade; the use of slaves to pay debts; descriptions of slave traders and slave jails; and the story of Anthony Burns, a former slave who successfully escaped from slavery in Richmond in 1854 but was captured in Boston.Less
This chapter discusses the spaces, places, and mechanics of the slave trade. These include the use of red flags upon which are pinned small manuscript descriptions of slaves to be sold off; family separations caused by the interstate slave trade; the use of slaves to pay debts; descriptions of slave traders and slave jails; and the story of Anthony Burns, a former slave who successfully escaped from slavery in Richmond in 1854 but was captured in Boston.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226559339
- eISBN:
- 9780226559322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226559322.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This introductory chapter begins with an analysis of Eyre Crowe’s painting, Slaves Waiting for Sale, Richmond, Virginia. It argues that Crowe sought to convey the depth and complexity of the horrors ...
More
This introductory chapter begins with an analysis of Eyre Crowe’s painting, Slaves Waiting for Sale, Richmond, Virginia. It argues that Crowe sought to convey the depth and complexity of the horrors of slavery by presenting an entirely different scene: not the moment of the auction, by now so well rehearsed in the minds of viewers, but the moments before. The shift in timing alone forced viewers to consider the topic anew. Instead of drawing attention to the auctioneer and the buyers, Crowe focused primarily on the enslaved. The chapter then sets out the book’s purpose, which is to capture the context needed in order to understand Crowe’s images today. In exploring the images created by Crowe and other artists, the chapters that follow explain how those works helped viewers to see the American slave trade and to understand slavery in new ways.Less
This introductory chapter begins with an analysis of Eyre Crowe’s painting, Slaves Waiting for Sale, Richmond, Virginia. It argues that Crowe sought to convey the depth and complexity of the horrors of slavery by presenting an entirely different scene: not the moment of the auction, by now so well rehearsed in the minds of viewers, but the moments before. The shift in timing alone forced viewers to consider the topic anew. Instead of drawing attention to the auctioneer and the buyers, Crowe focused primarily on the enslaved. The chapter then sets out the book’s purpose, which is to capture the context needed in order to understand Crowe’s images today. In exploring the images created by Crowe and other artists, the chapters that follow explain how those works helped viewers to see the American slave trade and to understand slavery in new ways.
Maurie D. McInnis
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226559339
- eISBN:
- 9780226559322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226559322.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter focuses on remembrances of the slave trade. Artistic representations of the slave trade largely disappeared after the Civil War. Among the few who used their art to continue to question ...
More
This chapter focuses on remembrances of the slave trade. Artistic representations of the slave trade largely disappeared after the Civil War. Among the few who used their art to continue to question the impact of slavery and the slave trade for African Americans in the post-war war era was the Southerner Thomas Satterwhite Noble, who painted two works immediately connected to the slave trade in the years following the war: The American Slave Mart (1865) and The Price of Blood. Around the turn of the century, a new form of public remembrance also arose. Largely connected to the growth in middle-class white tourism, this new form was nostalgia for an imagined idea of the South, a land of leisure and romance, a simpler place than the rapidly industrializing North. Central to that vision of the South was a benign view of slavery, one that imagined a harmonious relationship between masters and slaves, a natural hierarchy.Less
This chapter focuses on remembrances of the slave trade. Artistic representations of the slave trade largely disappeared after the Civil War. Among the few who used their art to continue to question the impact of slavery and the slave trade for African Americans in the post-war war era was the Southerner Thomas Satterwhite Noble, who painted two works immediately connected to the slave trade in the years following the war: The American Slave Mart (1865) and The Price of Blood. Around the turn of the century, a new form of public remembrance also arose. Largely connected to the growth in middle-class white tourism, this new form was nostalgia for an imagined idea of the South, a land of leisure and romance, a simpler place than the rapidly industrializing North. Central to that vision of the South was a benign view of slavery, one that imagined a harmonious relationship between masters and slaves, a natural hierarchy.
