These are Logos of the Abolitionist, I'm sure after looking at these it makes you think of Sojourner Truths poem "Ain't I a Woman," just as it did me. The goal of the abolitionists that created these logos was to end the Transatlantic Slave Trade to the British Colonies. These abolitionists were mainly interested in ending just the slave trade, not necessarily all slavery.
The members of this group knew the task would be hard because so many people in their area favored slavery, so they took a different approach. They used fliers, personal accounts, recruiters, and petitions. A man name Josiah Wedgwood created these logos and urged people to boycott slave produced sugar; he created led coins and gave them to the children who agreed to boycott sugar. It is because of men like Josiah that slavery was eventually ended indefinitely, although he had little power he did what he could to make the impact that he did. Wedgwood went around the white men with power who had investments in slavery, he knew that they would not give him their votes, he used emotional evidence to inform others and was successful in the end.
Similar to Truth's poem, these logos create an immediate reaction in me. They all ask the common question, "Aren't I a person?" These slaves were people just like us yet treated so differently only because of their skin color. Hopefully efforts like this made people of that time think hard about how different these slaves really were from them.
Those are both interesting logos to say the least. They assist in illustrating the disparity felt by all slaves during the time period. The fact that both individuals are looking towards the sky begs the idea of prayers for some type of divine intervention. Your inclusion of the justification for enslaving individuals solely based on their skin color could not be any more on point. Throughout the history of the United States, an individual’s disposition has been judged in terms of their ascribed whiteness or blackness and how close they are to one extreme. Especially during times of wide-spread slavery, I have read that a decision to enslave an individual could be assessed solely on the fact that the individual had one drop of a black person’s blood. You also make mention of the question “Ain’t I a Woman?,” posed by Sojourner Truth. I find it amazing individuals were able to convince themselves that a person could be viewed as property. To further complicate things, the Constitution was perversely used to protect a slave holder’s right to their “property.” From a historical perspective, I continue to be amazed by the acceptance of particular activities by a population based on the idea that those activities are social norms. The saga continues today around the world. Although not as prevalent or horrid as historical accounts, individuals are still oppressed based solely on their ascribed traits and through an interpretation of what is considered social norms. Josiah Wedgewood initiative to exercise his agency through the disbursement of those coins was an amazing idea. In effect, he immortalized the feelings of the abolitionists during the time period.
ReplyDelete