The Portraits of American Abolitionists collection consists of over 700 portraits in a wide range of formats depicting people involved with the fight for the abolition of slavery in the United States. The collection is fully digitized and available via the Massachusetts Historical Society's collection guides.
Explore the Portraits of American Abolitionists collection guide to view and learn more about these portraits.
Outside of Portraits of American Abolitionists, the Massachusetts Historical Society's other collections also include materials related to Antislavery in Massachusetts. Explore a selection of these items below.
The Almighty has no Attribute..., Garrison antislavery banner
God Himself is with Us for our Captain..., Garrison antislavery banner
Great Is Truth! Great Is Liberty!..., Garrison antislavery banner
The Liberator commenced January 1st 1831, Garrison antislavery banner
Our Fanaticism! All Men Are Created Equal!..., Garrison antislavery banner
Our Trust for Victory is solely in God..., Garrison antislavery banner
Proclaim Liberty throughout all The Land..., Garrison antislavery banner
Shall a republic which could not bear the bonds of a King..., Garrison antislavery banner
This Is The Lord's Doing, Garrison's antislavery banner
Billy club
Billy clubs
Am I Not A Woman And A Sister
Iron yoke collar
Am I Not A Woman And A Sister
Whip
Whip
Anti-Slavery Meetings!
Antislavery wafers
Church Anti-Slavery Society, Second Anniversary, Tremont Temple ...
Comparison of Products, Population, and Resources of the Free and Slave States
The Cotton Kingdom
The Dorchester Anti-Slavery Society's Celebration. July 4th, 1835
Envelope for antislavery wafers
First Anniversary of the Kidnapping of Thomas Sims, by the City of Boston
For the Twenty-Fifth National Anti-Slavery Subscription Anniversary, at the Music Hall, Boston, Wednesday Evening, January 26, 1859
Great Anti-Slavery Meetings!
Great Massachusetts Petition
Hymns, for the Rural Anti-Slavery Celebration, at Dedham, July 4, 1846
Liberty's Song
The Man is Not Bought! He is Still in the Slave Pen in the Court House!
Murderers, Thieves and Blacklegs Employed by Marshal Freeman!
No Slavery! Fourth of July! The Managers of the Mass. Anti-Slavery Soc'y ...
Order of Services at the First Anniversary of the Kidnapping of Thomas Sims, April 12, 1852
Slave Market of America
A Startling Fact!
Stop Thief
Ticket to the Anti-Slavery Bazaar in Boston, Massachusetts, 1855-1856
Ticket to the Anti-Slavery Refreshment Room, May 29-31, 1855
Ticket to the 23rd Anti-Slavery Bazaar in Boston, Massachusetts, 1857
The Twenty-Fifth National Anti-Slavery Subscription Anniversary. You are cordially invited by the Ladies ...
The Twenty-seventh Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society will be held in Boston, at Mercantile Hall, Summer Street, Thursday & Friday, ...
African American female, chained and kneeling ...
George Latimer
The Innocent Cause of the War
James Armistead Lafayette
"The Mill-boy of the Slashes!"
Scene on the Coast of Africa
Diagram to show the drill the Anti-Man-Hunting League had for the running off of a slave or man-hunter
Patriotic covers were a popular form of visual propaganda and became a collector’s item during the Civil War. Produced both in the North and South, these envelopes featured patriotic imagery and slogans, although some—primarily printed in the North—employed stereotypical and exaggerated images of the speech, dress, and physical characteristics of African Americans. Be advised that some of the following items contain racist descriptions and imagery.
"Bress de Lor, we am Contraban"
"By golly Massa Butler. I like dis better dan workin' in de field for ole Sesesh massa"
Come back here you black rascal. Can't come back nohow, massa; Dis chile's Contraban'
Confederate Bonds
Dinah and Pompey
Dis Chile's Contraban'
Dixie's Land
"Him fader's hope, Him moder's joy, Him darling little Contraband Boy"
"I wouldn't pull down dat flag, Massa George ..."
I'm glad I'm not in Dixie! Hooray! Hooray!
I'm Just from Dixie's Land
The Innocent Cause of the War
Jeff the Dictator as he is; as he should be Jeff the Dig-tater-er
John Bull's Sympathy
A King for the South
The Lock and Key
Map of the Seat of War
Massa can't have dis chile, dat's what's de matter: The latest contraband of war
Music by the "Contra-Band"
The "Peculiar" Institution
The "Peculiar Institution": Secession's Moving Foundation. Tendency due North -- via "Monroe"
The persuasive eloquence of the Sunny South
The Result of Secession
Secession
Southern Chivalry, Richmond, VA.
Dis Chile's Contraban'
Washwoman Davis
"We is de innocent root ob dis yere trubble, Mass' Jeff, but its gwine to take all us poor niggas' breff away to keep de wind in it"
"Whar's Jeff Davis?"
You had better get out dere, Massa Jeff, and go Norf, dey soon cool you or any oder man
African Meeting House, Boston, Massachusetts
The branded hand of Captain Jonathan Walker
Young Africa. Or the Bone of Contention.
Governor John Albion Andrew
George Livermore
Louisa Gilman Loring (Mrs. Ellis Gray Loring)
Louisa Gilman Loring (Mrs. Ellis Gray Loring)
Ellis Gray Loring
Wendell Phillips
Wendell Phillips
Franklin Benjamin Sanborn
Catherine Sargent
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner
John Albion Andrew
William Lloyd Garrison
Samuel E. Sewall
Charles Sumner