Thomas Ewbank was an Englishman who immigrated to the United States and made his fortune in lead, copper, and tin manufacturing before devoting himself to the study of mechanics. He traveled to Brazil in 1845 and 1846 and wrote an account of his experiences that became widely-read in England and the United States. Life in Brazil reflected extensively on the topic of slavery. Ewbank’s writings attracted the interest of international abolitionists and became a factor in campaigns to end Brazilian slavery. In this excerpt he describes some of the techniques used to punish slaves, and reflects on the prevalence of slave suicides.
Read the attached document and answer the following questions:
1. What do the masks, shackles, and chains Ewbank describes tell us about the nature of relationships between enslaved workers and slave-owners?
2. What types of working conditions does Ewbank describe on the plantations he visited?
