The Slave Sale
The Slave Sale
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- This undated print depicts a scene from Chapter 30 of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “The Slave Warehouse,” in which the fifteen-year-old Emmeline is separated from her mother and sold to the villainous Simon Legree. A group of white men are gathered in a circular inspecting a selection of slaves who are up for auction. On the left, a young boy is examined by a group of prospective buyers, while Emmeline stands on the auction block on the right. Her mother makes a pleading gesture towards Legree, who raises his hand to place the winning bid. A caption below the illustration, a caption reads, “The Hammer Falls…’he has got the girl body & soul unless God help her,’” revealing the man’s sexual desire towards the girl. In this illustration, Emmeline has been given distinctively white skin, to emphasize that she is a quadroon, one-fourth black, and thereby garner extra sympathy from white Northerners.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- Lithograph
- Object Type
- Lithograph
- Date made
- ca 1855
- maker
- unknown
- place made
- World
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- ink (overall material)
- Measurements
- image: 7 1/2 in x 12 in; 19.05 cm x 30.48 cm
- ID Number
- DL.60.2419
- catalog number
- 60.2419
- accession number
- 228146
- Credit Line
- Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
- subject
- African American
- Reform Movements
- Blacks
- Civil War
- Slavery
- See more items in
- Cultural and Community Life: Domestic Life
- Domestic Furnishings
- Art
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
