Mar 30, 2017 - Sale 2441

Sale 2441 - Lot 52

Price Realized: $ 2,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) HUTCHINSON, JESSE JR. AND FAMILY. The Bereaved Slave Mother. 5 pages (including the engraved cover.) Bound together with approximately 50 other pieces of 19th-century music; binding quite worn, covers off; Bereaved Slave Mother in fine condition. Vp, 1840's

Additional Details

Rare piece of abolitionist music, with an engraving of a slave auction on the front cover. The Hutchinsons were, without question, one of the most popular singing groups in America in the middle of the nineteenth century. They were also dedicated abolitionists who used their popularity to spread the word about the evils of slavery. This took some bravery on their part, even when performing to reasonably friendly crowds. The Hutchinsons traveled with Frederick Douglass in England in 1845 and stayed for almost a year. Original songs such as "Get Off the Track!", "Right over Wrong", and "The Slave's Appeal" addressed these issues. Abby Hutchinson wrote "Song of Our Mountain Home" in 1850. It includes the line, "Among our free hills are true hearts and brave, / The air of our mountains ne'er breathed on a slave."