Wood engraving by Slader after Harvey, and published by S.M. Slader. The engraving depicts an actual incident of brutality of an overseer against a female slave.

In 1825, Rosa was a heavily pregnant slave on a coffee plantation in Berbice, Guyana. She found it increasingly difficult to pick coffee and complained, asking for lighter duties, but this was denied. The plantation manager thought the women were not working hard enough and ordered them all, including Rosa, to be whipped by a black overseer and sent back to work. Following this ordeal, Rosa returned to the fields and went into premature labour, giving birth to a stillborn child that had been bruised by the beating. This terrible event, which horrified the plantation slaves, was recorded and presented to Parliament as evidence in favour of the campaign for the abolition of slavery. The campaign also used Rosa’s plight to advance the cause.

The print is accompanied by a pamphlet entitled, 'The miseries of slavery'.