The terrifying monster sits on a throne next to a burning column with the words вЂњLecomptonвЂќ (the controversial proslavery Kansas constitution passed in 1857), вЂњFugitive Slave ,вЂќ and вЂњMissouri Compromise.вЂќ With pistols and daggers in his belt, King Cotton seemingly maintains control over his land, keeping a paw on a manacled slave who looks upward toward a вЂњsublime apparitionвЂќ appearing in clouds the clouds above. In the lower, the forces of darkness are ruled by King Cotton, pictured here as an alligator-headed monarch with a body of a cotton sack. The image can be divided into a lower and upper half. This large, detailed allegory predicts the triumph of the Union over the dark forces of the Confederacy and вЂњKing Cotton.вЂќ The accompanying key describes the secession of the South in intensely moralistic terms, as the machinations of a cunning вЂњHydra of human discordвЂќ that produces treachery and rebellion. They carry banners decorated with allegorical figures as well as the portraits of Lincoln, Grant, and Swiss patriot William Tell and his son.

In the lower corners stand two parade groups of black men wearing Masonic sashes and aprons. Positioned around the central scene are busts of white and black politicians, abolitionists, and civil rights fighters. Around this central image are scenes of past injustice (plantation scene in upper left corner) and past accomplishments (African American soldiers fighting for the Union), as well as present and future centers of African American life (a black schoolroom with the words вЂњEducation will be our pride,вЂќ and a black preacher before his congregation, with the words, вЂњThe day of Jubilee has comeвЂќ). Onlookers, including many African American men and women, watch the parade pass. At the head of the parade are a small troop of black Zouaves, holding rifles across their shoulders, followed by several men on horseback wearing top hats and sashes, several floats, and more soldiers.

The central vignette pictures the parade held in Baltimore on May 19th that celebrated the amendmentвЂ™s passing. Celebrated May 19th 1870вЂќ (both in the image collection), shows multiple scenes that represent the past, present, and future of the African American community. This print, like the second print of the same name and вЂњThe 15th Amendment. One of several large commemorative prints marking the enactment of the 15th Amendment on March 30, 1870. Yet, as abolitionist Thomas Clarkson argued, the вЂњintelligible and irresistibleвЂќ way it conveyed information made it an especially evocative form of anti-slavery propaganda. It is impossible to know how influential the image was in swaying public opinion against the slave trade and slavery more generally. In the years that followed, the Brookes drawing was republished in books, on broadsheets, and as posters all over Britain, France, and the United States, and came to symbolize the inhumanity of the slave trade. The Regulated Slave Trade Act of 1788, which was designed to reduce deaths due to overcrowding on slave ships, allowed each man 6 feet by 1 foot 4 inches of space (women and children were granted slightly less room). First published by British abolitionists in 1788, the diagram depicts a vessel of 400 slaves packed in cheek by jowl, some with just 2 feet and 7 inches of headroom. The image graphically illustrated how inhumane conditions were for slaves in the Middle Passage. One of the most famous images of the transatlantic slave trade, this image of the slave ship Brookes shows each deck and cross-sections of decks and вЂњtight packingвЂќ of captives. At length the taste for wearing them became general, and thus fashionвЂ¦was seen for once in the honourable office of promoting the cause of justice and, humanity and freedom.вЂќ The design was also used in printed form on plates, enamel boxes for patches, as well as on tea caddies and for tokens, and later on printed broadsides as abolitionist propaganda (see вЂњAm I Not a Man and a Brother?вЂќ atop John Greenleaf WhittierвЂ™s вЂњOur Countrymen in Chains!,вЂќ 1837). Of the ladies, several wore them in bracelets, and others had them fitted up in an ornamental manner as pins for their hair. Clarkson wrote: вЂњsome had them inlaid in gold on the lid of their snuff-boxes. In February 1788, Wedgwood sent medallions to Benjamin Franklin in Pennsylvania they were an immediate success. The medallion was modeled after the seal for the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, founded in 1787 by the English abolitionist Thomas Clarkson. It has an applied relief of a supplicant slave in chains with вЂњAm I not a man and a brother?вЂќ inscribed around the slave. English potter and prominent abolitionist Josiah Wedgwood issued this jasperware medallion in 1787.

The confederacy of independent systems