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Black and White Slaves

Donnelly, A.

This lithograph, designed by Edward William Clay, a Northern apologist for slavery, contrasts an idealized scene of seemingly content slaves in America with that of a family of forlorn factory workers in England. In the left “America” panel, a well-dressed slave-holder is depicted with his wife, children, and greyhound. The plantation-owner’s son gestures towards two elderly slaves, who thank their master for providing for them. The white man, in turn, responds that as a long as “a dollar is left me, nothing shall be spared to increase their comfort and happiness.” In the background, a group of slaves is shown smiling and dancing to fiddle music. The circumstances of the black slaves were meant to be interpreted as more favorable than the conditions of life for “white slaves” in England, depicted in the right panel. Here, a starving, unemployed factory worker sits with his malnourished, sickly family, as a man in a top hat instructs him to enter a workhouse.

Date

1846?

Type

Lithograph

Medium

ink (overall material)

Department

NMAH

Institution

National Museum of American History

Object number

nmah_324734

Credit

Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection