John Greenleaf Whittier
Am I Not a Man and a Brother?

Public Domain

ExpandFavorite

AuthorPoem by John Greenleaf Whittier(American, 1807–1892)American, 1807–1892

CultureAmerican

Titles

Am I Not a Man and a Brother?

Datec. 1837

PlaceNew York, United States

MediumWood engraving on wove paper

Dimensions19 7/8 × 11 3/4 in. (50.5 × 29.9 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by various donors

Object numberB.95.4

Not on view

Explore Further

Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

PRINTS

DescriptionThis broadside was published in response to a February 1837 resolution in the House of Representatives stating that enslaved persons did not possess the right of petition secured to the people by the Constitution. The image of the kneeling enslaved man in chains with the question “Am I not a man and a brother?” had been used by English abolitionists in the late 1700s. American abolitionists used it in the 1800s. Here it is combined with John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “Our Countrymen in Chains.”
Provenance[Kennedy Galleries, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 1995.
Exhibition History"American Made: 250 Years of American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 7, 2012–January 2, 2013.

"Exhibited As We Are: Fighting Racism with Art in the Age of Slavery," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Bayou Bend, April 29–August 16, 2015.

"Imprinted: Illustrating Race," Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, June 11–October 30, 2022.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Inscribed on banner, below image: AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER?
Inscribed below text of poem: Sold at the American Anti-Slavery Office, 143 Nassau Street, New-York

[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.