Poster of the British slave ship Brookes, 1789

Poster of the British slave ship Brookes, 1789

British abolitionist Thomas Clarkson interviewed sailors who had worked on slave ships, and had an image prepared of the Brookes loaded with a typical “cargo” of 482 human beings. It was produced as a poster in 1789, and when widely distributed to a shocked public it challenged the pro-slavery propaganda that the transatlantic voyage was comfortable for slaves.

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