Sampler (England or United States)

This sampler may be of either English or American origin. Its central image - an enchained, kneeling slave - was created in 1787 as the official seal of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in England. Intended for mass reproduction and international distribution, the seal appeared in many anti-slavery publications, books, prints, and newspapers. Josiah Wedgwood, a passionate abolitionist, reproduced the image on thousands of unglazed stoneware cameos, which he gave to supporters of the movement. The emblem became so fashionable in both England and America that it turned up over and over in a variety of formats: on tokens to raise money for the cause; in women's needlework; on tea wares, jugs, and snuff boxes; and even on broaches and hairpins worn by society ladies.

Above the sampler's kneeling figure is a verse entitled "A Converted Indian's Prayer," a somewhat curious choice to use with an anti-slavery emblem. The verse was published in London as early as 1814, when it appeared in The Youth's Magazine or Evangelical Miscellany, and may be a reference to the 1820s and 1830s campaigns to abolish slavery in the British Colonies, particularly in the West Indies. Women's anti-slavery associations all over England supported a boycott of West Indian sugar, which was produced by slave labor. The verse appears, however, to have been more prevalent in the United States. It was one of the common hymns used in Presbyterian and Methodist prayer-meetings from about 1815 to 1860 and is found in many hymn books of that period. It is possible that an abolitionist preacher may have used or evoked an image of a slave in conjunction with this verse, and thereby inspired Mary Eyre's sampler.

It is just as likely, however, that events in England contributed to the sampler's abolitionist sentiments. Slavery was regularly discussed in English newspapers of the day and was, in fact, an especially topical issue there in the same year the sampler was completed. On August 28, 1833, just eight days after the date stitched on the sampler, the Slavery Abolition Act received royal assent, abolishing slavery throughout most of the British Empire.

Sampler (England or United States); Embroidered by Mary Eyre; silk and wool embroidery on linen foundation; H x W: 73.5 x 69 cm (28 15/16 x 27 3/16 in.); Bequest of Mrs. Henry E. Coe; 1941-69-253