"Greek Slave" depicts a Greek woman taken captive by Turkish forces during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1832) and displayed for sale in a Constantinople slave market. After the creation of the first marble version in 1844, "Greek Slave" became a symbol of the international anti-slavery movement, and abolitionist Frederick Douglass owned a small replica. The fact that this idealized sculpture galvanized international opposition to slavery more effectively than the harsh realities of actual enslaved Black people suggests the racism of a white population better able to empathize with a subject with which they identified.

"Greek Slave" was displayed in the American Pavilion at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London’s Crystal Palace. In a daring protest against slavery, three prominent freedpeople—William Wells Brown, William Craft, and Ellen Craft—pointedly placed at the base of the sculpture a cartoon depicting a realistic Black “Virginian Slave” woman in chains.