Anti-slavery needlework panel, c.1836
The dramatic picture of an African in chains dominates this piece of needlework. The poem on the panel describes the slave ships that carried kidnapped Africans across the Atlantic in terrible conditions. It calls them âdark floating dungeonsâ.
The panel would have been made by a lady who wanted to end slavery. Many people fought to abolish slavery worldwide in the 1700s and 1800s.
The transatlantic slave trade was abolished by the British Parliament in 1807. Slavery itself was officially abolished throughout the British colonies in 1833, but it continued to be legal in other countries. The USA didnât abolish slavery until 1865. This was why Abolitionists continued to fight for the freedom of slaves well into the 1800s.
The image of the kneeling slave in chains shown on this panel has a long history. It was used by the Quakers and the early Abolitionist movement as its emblem in the 1700s. The kneeling slave emblem showed the enslaved African as passive to provoke sympathy from white Europeans. This was not a true reflection of all enslaved Africans. Many actively fought against their own enslavement.
The kneeling slave design was reproduced on a variety of goods, including snuff boxes, bracelets and hairpins. People bought these goods to show their support for the Abolitionist cause.
Thomas Clarkson, a leading slavery Abolitionist, wrote about the kneeling slave emblem:
âSome 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.â
This needlework panel was originally used as the cushion of a chair. It shows that the kneeling slave continued to be a well known emblem for the anti-slavery movement in the 1800s.
Purchased by Hull Museums with the assistance of the MGC/V&A Purchase Grant Fund.
