Figure 1.-- We initially thought that there was a depiction od a ypung woman captive being branded. We stil think that this was the most other likely explanation that comes to us. The shoulder was one of several common places to place the brand. We are not, however, positive, but there is no glowing red hot brandf, even though it is getting dark. Rather the artist has higlighted it with unexplained light. And there is no brazer vissible to heat up the brands.

We initially thought that there was a depiction od a ypung woman captive being branded. We stil think that this was the most other likely explanation that comes to us. The shoulder was one of several common places to place the brand. We are not, however, positive, but there is no glowing red hot brandf, even though it is getting dark. Rather the artist has higlighted it with unexplained light. And there is no brazer vissible to heat up the brands. You get the impression that the woman has been selected for the brand and it is not being dome to the other captives. Perhaps she is one of the captives the captain has chosen to own as part of his payment. What we do not know is how common it was and where the branding took place. The literature on branding suggests that banding took place at various places beginning at the baracoons, but it does not make it very clear how common branding was at each of the major sites (baracoon, slaver, market, or plantation oe other work site). It appears that branding took place at all four, but we do not know how commonly. There seem to be a declining tendency at least by the 19th century, but even this is not well known. The Abolitionist Movement may have been a factor. Abilitionist literature commonly depicts braning, but this does not mean that it was common. Branding was a lurid aspect of slavery, even titlating to Victorian readers, so naturally Abolitionist literature would show it. There were two primasry reason for branding,. First for identification. Second for punishment, especially for running away. Identification was proabsnly the most common reason for branding. Several factors lead us to belierve that it was not very common. First, freedman photogrphs rarely brands. Second, we do not note mention of branding in many of the slave memoirs ans accounts. Whipping accounts on the other hand are common, almost universal. Third, in the many newspaper runaway descriptions, brands are rarely mentioned, yet they would be the easiest way of iudebtifying an individual.

Created: 8:05 PM 5/27/2022
Last updated: 8:05 PM 5/27/2022