The Brook Ship Photograph Analysis

Table of Contents

Diagram Creation, Target Audience and Message
The Historical Aspect and Prejudice
Personal and Social Responsibility
Reference

In 1781 the English Brook was launched for the first time. It was used to transport enslaved Africans, and conditions were harsh. The first diagram of the ship did not appear until a few years later and was written by William Elford. At around the same time, the image appeared on many pamphlets, newspapers, books, and posters. The people were shown lying on the ship with no spacing in the diagram. Even though the diagram had flaws, it became iconic in fighting the inhumanity the enslaved Africans faced in their transportation across seas.

Diagram Creation, Target Audience and Message

The publication was by English activist Thomas Clarkson in his book. It was a struggle to sensitize the people that the slave traffic was a practice violating human rights. The pictures intended audience was the British and other colonialists practicing the slave trade. Some individuals in the country felt that the slave trade violated the peoples rights. Using a diagram would better help convey their intended message against the inhuman trade. The purpose of the image was to convey the cruelty and dislike with which society treated the enslaved people. It gives the terrible conditions of the people, the harshness of their labor, and the atmosphere.

The Historical Aspect and Prejudice

The diagram was published during the historical moment when the slave trade had become a common practice, and some people felt that enslaving people was against their rights. They were innocent individuals captured against their will and unwillingly segregated from their families in Africa. These enslaved Africans were placed on their backs; their lying position prevented them from moving, so every white man quietly stepped on them and hurt them.

The primary unspoken assumption is the conditions and the story itself: how the men came aboard and why. The image probably shows that there was resistance and subsequent abolition that eliminated the slave trade. Another unstated assumption is the position of the white man on this ship. His personality was valued above the Africans, and he was allowed to torture and sell people. The diagram invokes great emotions within the viewer, entailing the oppressed Africans suffering. In 1788 a law was passed that regulated the amount of space given to enslaved people. The law was supposed to reduce mortality due to overcrowding, but children and women continued to receive only a tiny space and often died.

The diagram shows the seating arrangement in which the enslaved African people were placed. The vessel transported even over 700 people squeezed to fit onto the boat (Diagram of the Brookes slave ship). The diagram demonstrates that the ships planking was thicker than the actual one. The absence of ladders indicates that there could be no way to load and unload the provisions. Some vital security features on the ships were not illustrated in the image. The vessel was equipped so that the enslaved people could not jump into the sea: nets and partitions restricted their movement. Thus, the diagram has been a fundamental tool for eliciting the challenges the enslaved people underwent.

Personal responsibility for their countrys colonial behavior was long unrecognized and unacknowledged by the British. People believed that their opinions did not carry weight and that commoners had no means of changing the behavior of their politicians. An understanding of the purpose of the actions of political campaigns was not developed among the people. However, conditions set in which the identities of white people, even if they were peasants, were much higher and more valuable than those of black people. Many regarded themselves as a superior race that should not be bothered by the slave conditions of others. Personal responsibility for the actions of abstract enslavers, with whom none of Britains citizens associated themselves, was not felt in society.

Social responsibility did not emerge because no individual connected with society and was unwilling to feel integrity. The British saw themselves as a great nation but did not consider that their greatness resulted from the collective anti-human behavior of politicians and soldiers. Perhaps some individuals were aware that they were responsible for the crime and the removal of people from their homelands, but this was not enough. The ethical aspect did not concern the public in a broad sense, so global issues were not raised in society domestic problems were more embarrassing and needed to be addressed. Thus, a sense of personal and social responsibility for slave crimes was not formed in the community because of the lack of domestic problems, lack of knowledge, and notions about the countrys politics.