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. Return to Docs Populi poster archives page |