The Great Gallery
← Art Through History › The 19th Century

1780–1865

Slavery & the Fight for Freedom

For hundreds of years, millions of Africans were taken across the Atlantic and forced into slavery. Brave people, from enslaved fighters like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass to campaigners like William Wilberforce, worked to end it. Britain ended the slave trade in 1807 and slavery in its empire in 1833, and the United States ended slavery in 1865.

Why artists painted it

Some artists used their work to make people feel the cruelty of slavery, like Turner's wild 'Slave Ship'. Others later honored the escape and the long fight for freedom.

The Slave Ship The Slave Ship · J. M. W. Turner, 1840

12 artworks about this moment

The Slave Ship The Slave Ship J. M. W. Turner · 1840 👁️ Painted at the time Turner's glowing sunset hides a terrible event: slave traders throwing their human cargo overboard during a storm. The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840 The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840 Benjamin Haydon · 1841 👁️ Painted at the time Delegates from many countries pack a London hall at the World Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840, where women were not allowed to take part, an event that helped start the women's rights movement. A Ride for Liberty: The Fugitive Slaves A Ride for Liberty: The Fugitive Slaves Eastman Johnson · 1862 👁️ Painted at the time A family of enslaved people flee on horseback in the early light of the Civil War. The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln Francis Bicknell Carpenter · 1864 👁️ Painted at the time President Lincoln reads the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet in July 1862. The Abolition of Slavery in the French Colonies, 27 April 1848 The Abolition of Slavery in the French Colonies, 27 April 1848 François-Auguste Biard · 1849 👁️ Painted at the time Crowds cheer in the French colonies as slavery is abolished on April 27, 1848, with a flag raised and people embracing. A Visit from the Old Mistress A Visit from the Old Mistress Winslow Homer · 1876 👁️ Painted at the time A white woman visits former slaves on a plantation in Virginia after the Civil War, and the women's faces show different feelings. Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln George Peter Alexander Healy · 1869 👁️ Painted at the time President Abraham Lincoln, who led the Union during the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation, sits deep in thought in this 1869 portrait by George P. Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley, Deputy from Saint-Domingue Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley, Deputy from Saint-Domingue Anne-Louis Girodet · 1797 👁️ Painted at the time Jean-Baptiste Belley, a former slave who became a deputy to the French National Convention for Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), leans on a bust of an antislavery writer. Thomas Clarkson Thomas Clarkson Carl Frederik von Breda · 1788 👁️ Painted at the time Thomas Clarkson, who gathered evidence against the slave trade and traveled across Britain to campaign for abolition, sits writing in this portrait painted in 1788. Slave Market in Brazil Slave Market in Brazil Johann Moritz Rugendas · 1835 👁️ Painted at the time People who have been enslaved are held for sale at a market in Brazil, which received more enslaved Africans than any other country in the Americas. Emancipation: The Past and the Future Emancipation: The Past and the Future Thomas Nast · 1863 👁️ Painted at the time A circular scene in the center shows a Black family at home in freedom, surrounded by scenes of slavery on one side and a hopeful future on the other. Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Beecher Stowe Alanson Fisher · 1853 👁️ Painted at the time Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose novel Uncle Tom's Cabin of 1852 sold millions of copies and made many Northerners see the cruelty of slavery, in a portrait painted in 1853 by Alanson Fisher.