The Greek Slave (1851) A sculpture by Hiram powers and considered one of the best known and critically acclaimed artwork of the 19th century as part of the abolition of slavery in the US. Powers said: "The Slave has been taken from one of the Greek Islands by the Turks, in the time of the Greek revolution, the history of which is familiar to all. Her father and mother, and perhaps all kindred, have beem destroyed by her foes, and she alone preserved as a treasure too valuable to be thrown away. She is now among barbarian strangers, under pressure of a full recollection of the calamitous events which have brought her to her present state; and she stands exposed to the gaze of the people she abhors, and awaits her fate with intense anxiety, tempered indeed by the support of her reliance upon the goodness of God. Gather all this afflictions together, and add to them the fortitude and resignation of a christian, and no room will be left for shame." ---"Powers' Greek Slave." Uncle Tom's cabin & American Culture (2006) #hirampowers #greekslave #smithsonian #Hari2DC #washingtondc (at National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)













