Kidnapping

This illustration from Virginia shows the kidnapping of a free person of color to sell him as a slave. Bourne described "nothing is more common than for two of these white partners in kidnapping. . . to start upon the prowl; and if they find a freeman on the road, to demand his certificate, tear it in pieces, or secrete it, tie him to one of their horses, hurry off to some jail, while one whips the citizen along as fast as their horses can travel. There by an understanding with the jailor who shares in the spoil, all possibility of intercourse with his friends is denied the stolen citizen. At the earliest possible period, the captive is sold out to pay the felonious claims of the law . . . and then transferred to some of their accomplices of iniquity . . . who fill every part of the southern states with rapine, crime, and blood" (p. 120). The illustrations in this anti-slavery book strongly reflect its abolitionist perspective.

Image Title

Kidnapping

RegID

SI-OB-1001

Date

1830s

Title

Kidnapping

Source

George Bourne, Picture of slavery in the United State of America. . . (Boston, 1838), facing. p. 120.

Language

English

Item sets

Slave Sales & Auctions: African Coast & the Americas

Spatial Coverage

North America--Virginia--Richmond

Reproduced In

George Bourne, Picture of slavery in the United State of America. . . (Boston, 1838), facing. p. 120.

Researchers

Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May

Last Updated

28-Apr-11

Identifier

bourne02

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