Branding Slaves

This print shows an enslaved woman being branded by a white man, while other African women were presumably waiting to be branded at an unknown location, likely in Africa. Blake used this illustration to depict the lengths to which slave traders would go in order to keep track of their merchandise. The same image is also found in later editions of Blake. In any case, this image is apparently not based on an eye-witness, but was fabricated by the artist. The illustration appears to be an embellishment of an earlier one in another source (see image H006 on this website; also, for details on branding).

Image Title

Branding Slaves

RegID

SI-OB-979

Date

1900s

Title

Branding Slaves

Source

William O. Blake, The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade (Columbus, Ohio, 1857), p. 97.

Language

English

Item sets

Slave Sales & Auctions: African Coast & the Americas

Spatial Coverage

Africa

Reproduced In

William O. Blake, The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade (Columbus, Ohio, 1857), p. 97.

Researchers

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

Last Updated

2-Jun-16

Identifier

Blake1