The Role of Art & Literature

During the height of the British transatlantic slave trade, art and literature played a powerful role in shaping public opinion. Painters and writers often reflected the values of their time—some glorifying empire and commerce; others condemning the inhumanity of slavery. From propaganda engravings to abolitionist poetry and sentimental novels, the creative arts offered both justification and resistance, revealing the moral and political tensions of Britian’s global dominance.  

“The Captive Slave"  Ira Aldridge (1827) by John Philip Simpson 

Simpson’s painting portrays a Black man in chains against a dark background; his gaze lifted toward a light. Created just years before Britian’s abolition of slavery, it humanized the enslaved individual at a time when public debate on abolition was intensifying. The portrait emphasizes empathy and individuality, countering earlier depiction that reduced Africans to stereotypes.

 

 

 

 

 

“The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African” (1789) by Olaudah Equiano 

Equiano’s autobiography recounts his kidnapping in Africa, enslavement, and eventual freedom. It was one of the first firsthand slave narratives published in Britain and became a crucial text in shaping public understanding of the trade’s brutality. Through Christian moral appeals and Enlightenment rationality, Equiano’s narrative turned personal suffering into a political argument for humanity and equality.  

“Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On” (1840) by J.M.W. Turner 

 

Turner’s haunting seascape depicts enslaved Africans thrown overboard for insurance claims—a reference to the 1781 Zong Massacre. The painting’s chaos of color and light mirrors the moral horror of the act, and it was exhibited alongside his unfinished and unpublished poem "Fallacies of Hope" (1812):

 

Aloft all hands, strike the top-masts and belay; 
Yon angry setting sun and fierce-edged clouds 
Declare the Typhon's coming. 
Before it sweeps your decks, throw overboard 
The dead and dying - ne'er heed their chains 
Hope, Hope, fallacious Hope! 
Where is thy market now?