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Slaves exposed for sale

Image Slaves exposed for sale

TLF ID M008728

This is a black-and-white engraving showing a group of near-naked African men, women and children next to a smaller group of European men who appear to be discussing them, perhaps negotiating their sale. One African man is depicted with a chain around his neck, which bears a name or number on a metal plate. The scene appears to be set in a mountainous tropical location close to the coast. The hut in which the scene takes place is thatched and open on one side.

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Educational details

Educational value
  • This engraving is an interesting source for the year 9 history depth study elective Movement of peoples (1750-1901), which studies the influence of the industrial revolution on the movement of peoples throughout the world, including the transatlantic slave trade. Judging by the surroundings and the European men's clothing, the scene is set in the early 1800s and the location may be a slave barracoon (prison hut) in the Caribbean, in Brazil or on the African coast.
  • This is a good example of a source for which there is almost no information about its provenance, and historians can only use clues in the image itself to develop a hypothesis. Such clues include the neck collar on the slave in the foreground. The engraving comes from the US Library of Congress. The Library's shelf list card contains no data and, since there is no caption, the title in the Library's catalogue 'Slaves exposed for sale' was devised by Library staff.
  • The title is quite plausible as slaves, particularly those intended for plantation labour, were frequently required to remove their clothes for sale. It was customary for dealers and buyers to look at the slaves' eyes and teeth for signs of disease and to handle their bodies to judge their capacity for work. African people forced into slavery in this period were treated not as human beings but as commodities.
Topics Commerce Slavery
Learning area
  • History
  • Studies of society and environment

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: The Library of Congress
  • Organization: The Library of Congress
  • Description: content provider
  • Address: UNITED STATES
  • URL: http://www.loc.gov/
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Generic
Learning Resource Type
  • Image
Rights
  • © Commonwealth of Australia, 2011, except where indicated otherwise. You may copy, communicate and modify this material for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material.