Letter to William Sprague, May 1, 1861. Frederick Douglass (1818–1895),

C1210_Bx1_F7_Douglass_ltr_p1Two weeks after war had been declared, the orator, writer, and former slave Frederick Douglass wrote to clergyman William Sprague (1795–1876), “I find life no burden but rather a precious privilege. . . Once the cause of the country has become the cause of the slave, the difficulty of separating the one from the other, is a ground of hope that in the almost certain triumph of the country the cause of justice and freedom to the bondman will triumph.” Miscellaneous Slavery Collection, Manuscripts Division.

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Am I Not a Man? And a Brother? (Cambridge, 1788). Peter Peckard (ca. 1718–1797),

One of the most widely circulated images of the 18th-century abolitionist movement first appeared in print in this pamphlet addressed to the British Parliament. It had been designed in 1787 as a seal for the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Gift of Sidney Lapidus, Class of 1959. Rare Book Division.

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Description of a Slave Ship (London, 1789).

This broadside is an icon of the antislavery moment in England and the United States. It appeared after Parliament passed an act in 1788 that limited the number of slaves that could be transported on a ship and made visually striking the inhumanity of the statistics in the explanatory text. By the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 copies had been issued. The support it generated helped to end the slave trade (but not slavery) in the British Empire in 1807. Acquired with support from Sidney Lapidus, Class of 1959. Rare Book Division.

FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION: See this item’s catalog record, with a larger image of the broadside.