Slave-Trade

Currier & Ives · after 1863

Although the Atlantic slave trade was abolished in 1808, some slavers continued to illegally buy slaves in Africa and transport them to locations where slavery was legal. This colored print depicts a West African slave market on the coast of Sierra Leone and is based on an 1840 painting by the French artist Auguste-Francois Biard and its derivative print by British engraver, C.E. Wagstaff. The original painting was given to abolitionist, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton and is currently owned by the Wilberforce House in the United Kingdom. Currier and Ives did not credit the original artist when producing the lithograph.