William Henry Brooke, Preparatory Watercolor for “Slaves Shipping Cotton by Torch-Light” (1842) Livio Sanuto wreaths and clouds

wreaths and clouds

the Constitution of the Republic of Texas (1836) provided that slaves could only be imported from the United States and not from Africa

fur traders

Signed lower left: P

beat McKenney to the market with his own Aboriginal Port-Folio in 1835

William Henry Brooke, Preparatory Watercolor for “Slaves Shipping Cotton by Torch-Light” (1842) Livio Sanuto wreaths and cloudsThis rare preparatory drawing by William Henry Brooke served as the foundation for an early published visual critique of slavery in the United States. Created for James Silk Buckinghams The Slave States of America (London, 1842), the image records forced labor along the Alabama River with emotional restraint and historical clarity. Buckinghams account helped shape British public understanding of American slavery and the growing abolitionist movement.