Runaway Slaves

Thomas Nast Slavery Pictures

Thomas Nast was a staunch Abraham Lincoln supporter, defender of the Union Cause in the Civil War, and strong opponent to Slavery.  Nast used his art to show the Nation a picture of how things could be.  He created the artwork below on the topic of Slavery, in the days that Slavery was still a thriving institution in our land.  Thomas Nast's dramatic illustrations helped our Nation understand the moral outrage of slavery. The images capture the important events related to Slavery in the 1860's. The collection below contains all Slavery Artwork created by Thomas Nast during the Civil War years. Each leaf is original, and over 135 years old. This artwork was critical in helping to lead our Nation out of the Corrupt and Bankrupt Institution of Slavery, and onto a path of freedom and equality for all men.

Runaway Slaves

This is a bold Thomas Nast illustration captioned, "Southern Exiles on Their Way North". It is an original leaf from an 1863 edition of Harper's Weekly.  The leaf features images of Southern Families, White and Black, escaping the war, and moving North. The Black Family is no doubt escaping slavery and bondage in the South. This is a stunning illustration of a slave family on the run. The image shows a scared family, looking at an approaching storm.

Thomas Nast "Runaway Slaves"  (Click on Image for Enlarged View)

Lightning can be seen in the background, and the  storm appears to be worsening as darkness approaches.  A man can be seen comforting his wife, and an older woman can be seen on her knees crying.  In the background, a black family appears to be caring for a sick person.  Further in the background, more Black people can be seen watching the approaching storm. In classic Nast style, this image helps create a poignant image of the "humanness" of the Blacks. At the time, many considered Blacks as property.  Nast artwork helped establish the notion of Blacks as people, not property.

We created this Thomas Nast Gallery to digitally preserve Nast's Slavery work for posterity.  We are now making the original, 140 year old leafs available for a  $250 contribution to this site.  The proceeds from the sale of the material will enable us to continue to expand the free educational material featured on our site.  Please contact paul@sonofthesouth.net if you are interested in acquiring one of these original leafs.