Unidentified black nurse with grandchildren of Virginia's Governor Spotswood, 1790-1800.

Caption, A Planter and his Wife on a Journey. Two slaves carrying a covered hammock while the planter rides his horse; a slave woman carrys their baggage on her head. The Brazilian scholar, Gilberto Freyre writes: Within their hammocks and palanquins the gentry permitted themselves to be carried about by Negroes for whole days at a time, some of them travelling in this manner from one plantation to another . . . . Nearly all [slaveholders] travelled by hammock . . . (The Masters and the Slaves [New York, 1956], pp. 409-410, 428). In the 2nd ed. (London, 1817), all images are in b/w. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Virginia) also has a copy of this print.

Caption, retour a la ville d'un proprietere de chacra (a landowner/planter of Chacra returns to town). The Brazilian scholar, Gilberto Freyre, writes: Within their hammocks and palanquins the gentry permitted themselves to be carried about by Negroes for whole days at a time, some of them travelling in this manner from one plantation to another . . . . Nearly all [slaveholders] travelled by hammock . . . (The Masters and the Slaves [New York, 1956], pp. 409-410, 428). The engravings in this book were taken from drawings made by Debret during his residence in Brazil from 1816 to 1831. For watercolors by Debret of scenes in Brazil, some of which were incorporated into his Voyage Pittoresque, see Jean Baptiste Debret, Viagem Pitoresca e Historica ao Brasil (Editora Itatiaia Limitada, Editora da Universidade de Sao Paulo, 1989; a reprint of the 1954 Paris edition, edited by R. De Castro Maya).

Watercolor sketch captioned, West Indies_Barbados_Militia_Serjeant Redshanks moving to muster. A satirical perspective of a working class or poor white on his way to militia duty accompanied by his female servant, a former slave. Poor whites were the backbone of the Barbados militia, and redshanks (or redlegs) was a pejorative commonly used by other Barbadian whites and visitors from abroad. Colthurst lived in Barbados from November 1835 to January 1838 and echoes the ethnocentric and class-biased views of many visitors to Barbados, characterizing the poor whites as a most idle and good for nothing setóproud, lazy, and consequently miserably poor. From his house, he regularly witnessed the scene in the drawing, as the sergeant would prod his half starved beast with his black girl hanging on his horseís tail as is usual up hill. The militiaman is shown partially dressed in his uniform, shoes hanging from the saddle, and prodding his horse with a bayonet. The servant wears his dress hat, while his accoutrement bag is slung over one shoulder, his rifle on the other with his red-striped uniform trousers draped on it. When more affluent whites took their horses out for a ride, they were sometimes accompanied by an slaved servant who kept up with the rider while holding onto the horseís tail; upon arrival at the destination, the enslaved person was then expected to help the rider dismount. Although this scene was witnessed during the Apprenticeship period, customs of the slave period (which ended in 1834) were still very much alive; poor whites occasionally owned a slave or two. For details on Colthurst and his journal, see the authoritatively edited volume by Woodville Marshall, The Colthurst Journal (Millwood, NY: KTO press, 1977); see also Jill Sheppard, The Redlegs of Barbados: their origins and history (Millwood, NY: KTO press, 1977). Sean Casey of the Rare Books and Manuscript Department of the BPL made this image available to us.

Caption: Female Quadroon Slave of Surinam. Dress of the woman suggests a house servant or some other domestic employment. This and other engravings are found in the autobiographical narrative of Stedman, a young Dutchman who joined a military force against rebellions of the enslaved in the Dutch colony. The engravings are based on Stedmanís own drawings and were done by professional engravers. For the definitive modern edition of the original 1790 Stedman manuscript, which includes this and other illustrations see Richard and Sally Price, eds. Narrative of a five years expedition against the revolted Negroes of Surinam (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988).

Captioned, Costumes des Affranchis et Des Esclaves des Colonies (clothing worn by free people of color and slaves in the colonies), this image shows three free women of color in an urban setting. Engraving by Ponce for Moreau de Saint Mery, Loix et Constitution des Colonies Francais (Paris, 1784, 1790). This image is reversed from the original Brunias print (not shown on this website, but a copy is owned by the Barbados Museum), one edition of which was published in London in 1790. The engraving, in turn, is derived from the Brunias painting, A West Indian Flower Girl, ca. 1769; for a b/w photo of this painting, see Malcolm Cormack, A Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, 1985, pp. 44-45). For biographical details on Brunias, see image NW0016.

Captioned, Costumes des Affranchis et Des Esclaves des Colonies (clothing worn by free people of color and slaves in the colonies), this shows a free woman of color buying vegetables or fruit from slave vendors. Engraving by Ponce for Moreau de Saint Mery, Loix et Constitution des Colonies Francais (Paris, 1784, 1790). This image is the same as that titled The Barbados Mulatto Girl in this collection (image NW0016), and is utlimately derived from a painting by Agostino Brunias. For biographical details on Brunias, see image NW0016.

Captioned blanchisseuses (washerwomen), depicts 3 women washing clothes in a river; woman on left carries a child on her back and wooden tray filled with clothes on her head. Engraving by Ponce for Moreau de Saint Mery, Loix et Constitution des Colonies Francais (Paris, 1784, 1790). This image is reversed from the original Brunias print, titled The West-India Washerwoman (not shown on this website) one edition of which was published in London in 1790; the print, in turn, is based on a painting by Brunias, one version of which is held by the Barbados Museum (see, for example, reproduction in Andrew J. O'Shaughnessy, An Empire Divided [Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2000], p. 37). For biographical details on Brunias, see image NW0016.

A man and two women in formal attire. Engraving by Ponce for Moreau de Saint Mery, Loix et Constitution des Colonies Francais (Paris, 1784, 1790). This image is reversed from the original Brunias print, titled Free Natives of Dominica (not shown on this website; a copy is held by the Barbados Museum), one edition of which was published in London in 1790. The engraving, in turn, is derived from the Brunias painting, Free Natives of Dominica, ca. 1770; for a b/w photo of this painting, see Malcolm Cormack, A Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, 1985, pp. 44-45). For biographical details on Brunias, see image NW0016.

Caption, A Surinam Planter in His Morning Dress; enslaved woman in background pouring him a drink. This and other engravings are found in the autobiographical narrative of Stedman, a young Dutchman who joined a military force against rebellions of the enslaved in the Dutch colony. The engravings are based on Stedmanís own drawings and were done by professional engravers. For the definitive modern edition of the original 1790 Stedman manuscript, which includes this and other illustrations see Richard and Sally Price, eds. Narrative of a five years expedition against the revolted Negroes of Surinam (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988).

Caption, Famille de Planteurs ; note black nursemaids in lower left. For an analysis of Rugendas' drawings, as these were informed by his anti-slavery views, see Robert W. Slenes, African Abrahams, Lucretias and Men of Sorrows: Allegory and Allusion in the Brazilian Anti-slavery Lithographs (1827-1835) of Johann Moritz Rugendas (Slavery & Abolition, vol. 23 [2002], pp. 147-168).

Urban scene in Bahia, showing servants/slaves carrying a white woman. The Brazilian scholar, Gilberto Freyre writes: Within their hammocks and palanquins the gentry permitted themselves to be carried about by Negroes for whole days at a time, some of them travelling in this manner from one plantation to another, while others employed this mode of transport in the streets; when acquaintenances met, it was the custom to draw up alongside one another and hold a conversation (The Masters and the Slaves [New York, 1956], pp. 409-410).

Caption, Une Mulatresse, the woman is depicted lounging on a divan wearing a long dress, blouse, and head-tie.

Caption, Blanchisseuses a Rio Janeiro (washerwomen at Rio....); group of black women at a river; also a European (?) woman cooking. For an analysis of Rugendas' drawings, as these were informed by his anti-slavery views, see Robert W. Slenes, African Abrahams, Lucretias and Men of Sorrows: Allegory and Allusion in the Brazilian Anti-slavery Lithographs (1827-1835) of Johann Moritz Rugendas (Slavery & Abolition, vol. 23 [2002], pp. 147-168).

White woman being carried in a covered hammock by two male slaves, white clay pipes tucked into their clothing; other slaves following on foot, carrying fruit baskets. Wagener/Wagner was a German mercenary for the Dutch West India Company; in 1634, at the age of about 20, he went to northeastern Brazil and stayed there for 7 years. He writes The wives and children of notable and wealthy Portuguese are transported in this manner, by two strong slaves, to the houses of their friends or to church; they hang the beautiful cloths of velvet or damask over poles so that the sun does not burn them strongly. They also take behind them a variety of beautiful and tasty fruits as a present for those that they wish to visit (vol. 2, p. 190).

Caption, litiere pour voyager dans l'interieur (litter for travelling into the interior); whites (?) inside horse-carried litter accompanied by two black grooms with whips. The engravings in this book were taken from drawings made by Debret during his residence in Brazil from 1816 to 1831. For watercolors by Debret of scenes in Brazil, some of which were incorporated into his Voyage Pittoresque, see Jean Baptiste Debret, Viagem Pitoresca e Historica ao Brasil (Editora Itatiaia Limitada, Editora da Universidade de Sao Paulo, 1989; a reprint of the 1954 Paris edition, edited by R. De Castro Maya).

This image shows enslaved women washing at the river. James Hakewill (1778–1843) was an English architect known for illustrated publications. Several of his works relating to Jamaica can be found in T. Barringer, G. Forrester, and B. Martinez-Ruiz, Art and Emancipation in Jamaica: Isaac Mendes Belisario and his Worlds (New Haven: Yale Center for British Art in association with Yale University Press, 2007), passim.

This image shows a white woman being carried by two liveried male servants in Bahia. James Henderson (c. 1783-1848) was a British traveler who traveled all through Brazil between 1819 and 1820. He made all of his sketches from his observations. The Brazilian scholar, "Gilberto Freyre writes: Within their hammocks and palanquins the gentry permitted themselves to be carried about by Negroes for whole days at a time, some of them travelling in this manner from one plantation to another, while others employed this mode of transport in the streets; when acquaintances met, it was the custom to draw up alongside one another and hold a conversation" (The Masters and the Slaves (New York, 1956), p. 409-410, 428).

This image shows enslaved female fanning a white woman while she naps, while a black child sitting on the floor. James Henderson (c. 1783-1848) was a British traveler who traveled all through Brazil between 1819 and 1820. He made all of his sketches from his observations.

This image depicts two formally attired enslaved males, followed by several females, carrying the palanquin of some dignitary in Brazil. The Brazilian scholar, Gilberto Freyre described how "within their hammocks and palanquins the gentry permitted themselves to be carried about by Negroes for whole days at a time, some of them travelling in this manner from one plantation to another, while others employed this mode of transport in the streets; when acquaintances met, it was the custom to draw up alongside one another and hold a conversation" (see The Masters and the Slaves (New York, 1956), p. 409-410, 428).

Caption, called the Rede this sort of hammock, the author writes, is usually made of cotton net, dyed of various colours and fringed, in which females, a little above the lower classes, are carried about by their slaves; it is furnished with a pillow to lean upon, and across the bamboo, from which it is suspended, is thrown a covering or curtain fantastically striped. When the lady wishes to stop, the carriers plant their sticks in the ground and support the ends of the bamboo on the iron fork fixed at the end of each for that purpose, until their mistress chooses to proceed. On the right, a male slave is carrying a load of Capim or Guinea Grass while on the left, the woman carrying her child is selling pineapples (pp. 202-203). The foreground figures in Chamberlain's book were copied from three separate water-colors drawn earlier by Joaquim Candido Guillobel. Born in Portugual in 1787, Guillobel came to Brazil in 1808, and from 1812 started drawing and painting small pictures on cards of everyday scenes in Rio de Janeiro. For biographical details on Guillobel, who died in 1859, and reproductions of about 60 of his original drawings in color (including the ones shown here), see Joaquim Candido Guillobel, Usos e Costumes do Rio de Janeiro nas figurinhas de Guillobel [1978]. The text of this volume is given in both Portuguese and English; the author of the biographical notes who is, presumably the compiler of the volume, is not given in the Library of Congress copy that was consulted. (See this website, Chamberlain for related drawings.)

Title, The Seje, or Chege, and Cadeira. The Cadeira (right) consists of an arm chair, with a high back, firmly fixed upon a foot board, having an oblong wooden top from which hang curtains . . . . The bearers were chosen from the stoutest and best looking negroes in the family, and were dressed in gay liveries; sometimes wearing coloured feathers in their hats. On the left, is the Chaise, or Chègè, driven by two other slaves in livery. The foreground figures in Chamberlain's book were copied from two separate water-colors drawn earlier by Joaquim Candido Guillobel. Born in Portugual in 1787, Guillobel came to Brazil in 1808, and from 1812 started drawing and painting small pictures on cards of everyday scenes in Rio de Janeiro. For biographical details on Guillobel, who died in 1859, and reproductions of about 60 of his original drawings in color (including the ones shown here) see Joaquim Candido Guillobel, Usos e Costumes do Rio de Janeiro nas figurinhas de Guillobel [1978]. The text of this volume is given in both Portuguese and English; the author of the biographical notes who is, presumably the compiler of the volume, is not given in the Library of Congress copy that was consulted. (See this website, Chamberlain for related drawings.)

An upper class woman being transported in her sedan chair by two slaves, each dressed in livery but barefoot; they follow a white man, dressed in the same colors, but who is wearing shoes. The matching colors of the clothing and the sedan chair indicate they all belong to the same owner or property. Born in Italy ca. 1740, Juliao joined the Portuguese army and traveled widely in the Portuguese empire; by the 1760s or 1770s he was in Brazil, where he died in 1811 or 1814. For a detailed analysis and critique of Juliao's figures as representations of Brazilian slave life, as well as a biographical sketch of Juliao and suggested dates for his paintings, see Silvia Hunold Lara, Customs and Costumes: Carlos Juliao and the Image of Black Slaves in Late Eighteenth-Century Brazil (Slavery & Abolition, vol. 23 [2002], pp. 125-146).

Caption, El Quitrin, Havannah, shows a slave in livery mounted on a horse. The volante or quitrin of Havanna . . . is generally drawn by one horse or mule . . . . The conductor, called il calesero, is generally, if not always, a negro slave, and he rides on the horse or mule . . . . The private quitrin is usually a very handsome affair--glittering in silver ornaments, as does also the harness and other accouterments of the horse and rider . . . . But, without the black calesero, and his rich . . . dress, the volante would lose half of its attractions . . . . Indeed, the private calesero is a very unique object. In dress a cross between an officer of the Haytian army and a French postilion, he is usually garbed in a very handsome livery, richly embroidered with gold or silver lace, and a black hat with gold or silver band . . . . (pp. 170-73). For another similar view of the volante, see Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 6 (1853), p. 163 and image Album-12 on this website. A slightly altered version is also published in Maturin Ballou, History of Cuba (Boston, 1854), facing p. 131. The orginal of this illustration was done by the French artist Frederic/Federico Mialhe, who lived in Cuba from 1838 to 1854; see, Emilio Cueto, Mialhe's Colonial Cuba [Miami, The Historical Association of Southern Florida, 1994] for the same image which Cueto identifies as the most famous Cuban print of all times, pp. 93,94).

Creole de la Martinique, depicts black servant bringing refreshments to a creole man and woman--native born whites, described at length, as is the island's slave population, on pp. 292-93