On the plantations in the West Indies--many owned by wealthy New England merchants involved in the large and profitable Atlantic trade--owners relied on extreme punishments, such as those depicted in this broadside, as examples to enforce discipline. This broadside, "Injured Humanity," which was likely used by abolitionists to illustrate the horrors and inhumanity of slavery, illustrates a "representation of what the unhappy children of Africa endure from those who call themselves Christians." Click here to see a detail .

Image: Injured Humanity, ca. 1830. Courtesy The Connecticut Historical Society Museum, Hartford, Connecticut.