
These fascinating pictures from 150 years ago show the brutal reality endured by slaves in America.

They resurfaced on the 153rd anniversary of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery being signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on February 1, 1865.

That came two years after President Lincoln declared slaves in designated areas of the South free with his Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War.

But this series of images show what life was like for slaves before the institution was abolished.

This horrific image shows the criss-crossing scars inflicted on one slave who was freed from a plantation in Louisiana

Some show the back-breaking work of picking cotton on plantations in Georgia, with another horrific image shows the criss-crossing scars inflicted on one slave who was freed from a plantation in Louisiana.

Others show newspaper clippings from the era, including advertisements for the auction of slaves across the United States.

One even warns African-Americans that law enforcement has the power to return them to their plantations should they escape.

The 13th amendment remains to this day the only ratified amendment to the US Constitution to have been signed into law by a sitting President.

The images show the everyday lives of slaves in America before slavery was abolished

Many slaves endured long days doing the back-breaking work of picking cotton on plantations in states like Georgia

The series of images resurfaced on the 153rd anniversary of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery being signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on February 1, 1865

Under the rules of the Constitution, Lincoln's signature was not necessary for the passing of the bill, having already been passed by both Congress and the Senate prior to this.

The amendment was approved after a bitter Civil War devastated the country, pitting the pro-slavery Confederate States of America, including Texas, Louisiana and Kentucky, against the mostly anti-slavery Union states, which included New York and Illinois.

President Lincoln had already signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves within the Union, in January 1863, but the 13th Amendment widened its scope to include the entirety of the United States.

The 13th amendment was approved after a bitter Civil War devastated the country. Pictured, slaves are seen picking cotton on a plantation

The Civil War pit the pro-slavery Confederate States of America, including Texas, Louisiana and Kentucky, against the mostly anti-slavery Union states, which included New York and Illinois.Above, a slave auction in progress in Lexington, Kentucky

Joseph Carpenter, an abolitionist who fought to free the slaves, with a slave girl (left) and Samuel Harper and his wife in Ontario in 1859 after escaping from America (right)

President Lincoln had already signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves within the Union, in January 1863, but the 13th Amendment widened the scope to include the whole country. Pictured, slave cabins in Lawrenceville, Virginia

Newspaper clippings from the era, including advertisements for the auction of slaves across the United States

A newspaper advert warning African-American slaves in Boston that the police have the power to return them to their plantations, 1851

Speaking about slavery during his Presidency, Lincoln had said in a speech in 1864: 'Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man's nature - opposition to it is in his love of justice.

'These principles are an eternal antagonism; and when brought into collision so fiercely, as slavery extension brings them, shocks, and throes, and convulsions must ceaselessly follow.

'Repeal the Missouri Compromise - repeal all compromises - repeal the declaration of independence - repeal all past history, you still can not repeal human nature. It still will be the abundance of man's heart, that slavery extension is wrong; and out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth will continue to speak.'

The United States was one of the last leading Western nations to abolish slavery - and the effects of the country's brutal past are still felt to this day.

A guard is pictured at a jail for slaves used by the Confederacy during the Civil War, which broke out in April 1861 as a result of the long-standing controversy over slavery

Speaking about slavery during his Presidency, Lincoln had said in a speech in 1864: 'Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man's nature - opposition to it is in his love of justice.' Pictured, a slave works on a farm