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1844 American Anti-Slavery Almanac (U.S.)

Abolitionist Flag

image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 30 September 2026

On this page:

Description of the flag

See also:

Description of the flag

At https://encyclopediavirginia.org/12956-fe8903ae1905339 the back cover of William Wells Brown's Illustrated Edition of the Life and Escape of Wm. Wells Brown (London, 1851) with a flag-related woodcut by Patrick Reason illustrating a poem by William Lloyd Garrison. It depicts an unusual U.S. flag, altered in metaphor, hoisted on a flag pole set on the ground, its rope also bounding a dark skin male human figure, tied to the pole at his wrists and ankles. (Same image also seen elsewhere — https://blogs.shu.edu/americanhistory/project/the-fourth-of-july, e.g., where it is on p.36 of some other publication; I'd presume Brown's 1851 edition is the first of many reuses of this artwork.)

The flag design is not the 30-star or 31-star flag expected for this date, but a meaningful alteration showing on the canton 15 white stars above (north) and 14 black stars below (south), these standing for each state's position concerning the enslavement of blacks.

The stripes pattern is swapped to start and end with a white stripe, and there are only eleven in total: 6 white stripes alternating with 5 red stripes; furthermore the white stripes are also doubly wide and this latter departure from the actual flag design is likely anotther part of the metaphor about inherent white supremacism, not just mere careless draughtsmanship.

It is from the 1844 American Anti-Slavery Almanac, available in the Zaricor Flag Collection website:
https://www.flagcollection.com/itemdetails.php
https://bowerbird-mediastore.s3.amazonaws.com

António Martins-Tuválkin, 30 September 2026