Title
Label
Made at Josiah Wedgwood’s Etruria Factory, Staffordshire, England, 1787-1800
Made of Jasperware (Unglazed Stoneware)
Height 1.25"
Museum Purchase with Funds Provided by W. Groke Mickey
The image of a kneeling slave in chains imploring “am I not a man and a brother?” was the first, most common, and most effective anti-slavery image created by the abolition movement.
Developed in 1787 by the Society for Affecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, the medallion’s message of a shared humanity between people of African and European descent was instrumental in “turning the attention of our countrymen to the case of the injured Africans, and of procuring warm interest in their favour,” in the words of one abolitionist.[v]
He went on to note that, “some had them inlaid in gold on the lid of their snuff-boxes. Of the ladies, several wore them in bracelets and others had them fitted up in an ornamental manner as pins for their hair. At length the taste for wearing them became general, and thus a fashion… was seen for once in the honourable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity, and freedom.” [vi]