Wedgwood anti-slavery medallion facts for kids
The Wedgwood anti-slavery medallion was an abolitionist symbol produced and distributed by British potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood in 1787 as a seal for the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The medallion depicts a kneeling Black man in chains with his hands raised to the heavens; it is inscribed with the phrase "Am I not a man and a brother?"
The figure was likely designed and modeled by Henry Webber and William Hackwood with Wedgwood's involvement. The medallion was produced as a jasperware cameo by Wedgwood's factory—the Etruria Works— and widely distributed in Britain and the United States. These cameos were worn as pendants, inlaid in snuff boxes, and used to adorn bracelets and hair pins, rapidly becoming fashionable symbols of the British abolition movement. The medallion helped to further the abolitionist cause and is today accepted as a "the most recognizable piece of antislavery paraphernalia the movement ever produced."
Contents
Origin
On July 5, 1787, the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade resolved to develop a recognizable seal for their cause. The Society solicited the help of prominent British potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood. On October 16, 1787 a design by Henry Webber was presented to a committee of the Society. According to Mary Guyatt, and "it is fair to suggest that [Wedgwood] would have had some influence over the eventual design" given his personal involvement in the project. Webber's design depicted a Black male slave in a kneeling posture accompanied by the motto "Am I not a man and a brother?" The motif was adapted from a print design into sculpture, likely by William Hackwood.
Distribution
By the end of 1787, Wedgwood began work to produce the design in cameo form at his pottery factory in Etruria, Staffordshire. The quantity of medallions produced and number of variants of the symbol manufactured is not known. According to Mary Guyatt, "basing our figures on the level of demand indicated by the 15,050 copies of Clarkson's pamphlet, A Summary View of the Slave Trade, distributed to supporters in the Society's first fifteen months, it can be presumed that demand for the medallion was of a comparable scale."
The medallions were likely distributed through the network of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Wedgwood sent parcels of cameos to Thomas Clarkson as well as to Benjamin Franklin in the United States. Historians generally accept that Wedgwood himself financed the cost of production and distribution; cameos of a similar size were commercially sold for three guineas each (£3/-3, equivalent to £317 in 2021).
Wedgwood's anti-slavery cameos were eventually used to adorn a variety of items including snuff boxes, shoe buckles, bracelets, and hair pins which were commercially available in Britain the United States. These items were purchased by hundreds of movement supporters—many of them middle-class women—who contributed to the increasing fashionability of the abolition movement.
Influence
In the 1828 a modified version of the medallion appeared featuring a kneeling woman slave and the phrase "Am I not a woman and a sister." This version was intended to specifically bring attention to the plight of enslaved women. George Bourne's 1837 Slavery Illustrated in Its Effects upon Woman and Domestic Society features the female variation of the symbol on its frontispiece.
The American abolitionist newspaper The Liberator featured the kneeling slave figure in its nameplate, likely designed by Hammatt Billings.
African American men participating in the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike carried posters reading "I AM A MAN"—a slogan that has often been traced to the Wedgwood medallion. As Cecelia M. Hartsell writes, "Am I Not a Man and A Brother" was no longer a question, as it had been in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—it was a declaration."
Gallery
-
A 1788 engraving of the symbol
-
A French version of the medallion produced in 1789 in Sèvres
-
A stoneware version produced by Wedgwood
-
A c. 1800 painting of the kneeling slave figure at Wilberforce House
-
An 1835 broadside of Our Countrymen in Chains by John Greenleaf Whittier featuring the symbol
-
A diorama of the Memphis sanitation strike showing posters reading “I AM A MAN"
-
A c. 1860 cup featuring the medallion, likely produced by a Dutch anti-slavery organization
See also
- Representation of slavery in European art
- Emancipation Memorial
- Ain't I a Woman?
- I Am a Man!
