Slave Barracoon
Barracoon with thatched roof with captured slaves inside, guards outside and several people being whipped. The Illustrated London News describes a raid by the British Navy in February 1849 on Spanish slave trading stations where three factories were destroyed along the Gallinas [Kerefe] river in Sierra Leone in the Upper Guinea Coast region. The engraving shows "a barracoon at the back of one of the factories in the creek; here flogging is an hourly occupation, and the sufferers frequently expire under the lash. The slaves are chained by the neck and legs; and except when marched from one barracoon to another, on chance of shipment, they know no change for a year or two." For details on this raid, see also W. E. F. Ward, The Royal Navy and the Slavers (New York, 1970), pp. 182-85. A colored version of this illustration (which crops off part of the figure being whipped and the two seated on the ground [on the right]) was done by an anonymous nineteenth century artist. It is located in Bureau du Patrimoine du Conseil Regional de la Martinique, and was published in the exhibition catalog, Les Anneaux de la Memoire: Nantes-Europe-Afriques-Ameriques, Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne. Nantes, France, Dec. 1992-Feb. 1994.
Image Title
Slave Barracoon
RegID
SI-OB-744
Date
1840s
Title
Slave Barracoon
Source
The Illustrated London News (April 14, 1849), vol. 14, p. 237.
Language
English
Item sets
Slave Sales & Auctions: African Coast & the Americas
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Rivers
Reproduced In
The Illustrated London News (April 14, 1849), vol. 14, p. 237.
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
26-Jan-15
Identifier
C008