In
the 17th century Europeans began to establish settlements in the Americas.
Crops grown on these plantations such as tobacco,
rice, sugar cane
and cotton were labour intensive. European
immigrants had gone to America to own their own land and were reluctant
to work for others. Convicts were sent over from Britain but there
had not been enough to satisfy the tremendous demand for labour. Planters
therefore began to purchase slaves.
At first these came from the West Indies but by the late 18th century
they came directly from Africa and busy
slave-markets were established in Philadelphia, Richmond, Charleston
and New Orleans.
A slave-market in America.
(1)
William
Wells Brown, The American Slave-Trade, The Liberty Bell
(1848)
Few persons who have visited the slave states have not, on their return,
told of the gangs of slaves they had seen on their way to the southern
market. This trade presents some of the most revolting and atrocious
scenes which can be imagined. Slave-prisons, slave-auctions, handcuffs,
whips, chains, bloodhounds, and other instruments of cruelty, are
part of the furniture which belongs to the American slave-trade. It
is enough to make humanity bleed at every pore, to see these implements
of torture.
Known to God only is the amount of human agony and suffering which
sends its cry from these slave-prisons, unheard or unheeded by man,
up to His ear; mothers weeping for their children -- breaking the
night-silence with the shrieks of their breaking hearts. We wish no
human being to experience emotions of needless pain, but we do wish
that every man, woman, and child in New England, could visit a southern
slave-prison and auction-stand.
I shall never forget a scene which took place in the city of St. Louis,
while I was in slavery. A man and his wife, both slaves, were brought
from the country to the city, for sale. They were taken to the rooms
of Austin & Savage, auctioneers.
Several slave-speculators, who are always to be found at auctions
where slaves are to be sold, were present. The man was first put up,
and sold to the highest bidder. The wife was next ordered to ascend
the platform. I was present. She slowly obeyed the order. The auctioneer
commenced, and soon several hundred dollars were bid. My eyes were
intensely fixed on the face of the woman, whose cheeks were wet with
tears. But a conversation between the slave and his new master attracted
my attention. I drew near them to listen. The slave was begging his
new master to purchase his wife. Said he, "Master, if you will
only buy Fanny, I know you will get the worth of your money. She is
a good cook, a good washer, and her last mistress liked her very much.
If you will only buy her how happy I shall be." The new master
replied that he did not want her but if she sold cheap he would purchase
her. I watched the countenance of the man while the different persons
were bidding on his wife. When his new master bid on his wife you
could see the smile upon his countenance, and the tears stop; but
as soon as another would bid, you could see the countenance change
and the tears start afresh.
From this change of countenance one could see the workings of the
inmost soul. But this suspense did not last long; the wife was struck
off to the highest bidder, who proved not to be the owner of her husband.
As soon as they became aware that they were to be separated, they
both burst into tears; and as she descended from the auction-stand,
the husband, walking up to her and taking her by the hand, said, "Well,
Fanny, we are to part forever, on earth; you have been a good wife
to me. I did all that I could to get my new master to buy you; but
he did not want you, and all I have to say is, I hope you will try
to meet me in heaven. I shall try to meet you there." The wife
made no reply, but her sobs and cries told, too well, her own feelings.
I saw the countenances of a number of whites who were present, and
whose eyes were dim with tears at hearing the man bid his wife farewell.
Such are but common occurrences in
the slave states. At these auction-stands, bones, muscles, sinews,
blood and nerves, of human beings, are sold with as much indifference
as a farmer in the north sells a horse or sheep.
(2)
Solomon
Northup, Twelve Years a Slave (1847)
In the first place we were required to wash thoroughly, and those
with beards, to shave. We were then furnished with a new suit each,
cheap, but clean. The men had hat, coat, shirt, pants and shoes; the
women frocks of calico, and handkerchiefs to bind about their heads.
We were now conducted into a large room in the front part of the building
to which the yard was attached, in order to be properly trained, before
the admission of customers. The men were arranged on one side of the
room, the women on the other. The tallest was placed at the head of
the row, then the next tallest, and so on in the order of their respective
heights. Emily was at the foot of the line of women. Freeman charged
us to remember our places; exhorted us to appear smart and lively,
- sometimes threatening, and again, holding out various inducements.
During the day he exercised us in the art of "looking smart,"
and of moving to our places with exact precision.
After being fed, in the afternoon, we were again
paraded and made to dance. Bob, a colored boy, who
had some time belonged to Freeman, played on the violin. Standing
near him, I made bold to inquire if he could play the "Virginia
Reel." He answered he could not, and asked me if I could play.
Replying in the affirmative, he handed me the violin. I struck up
a tune, and finished it. Freeman ordered me to continue playing, and
seemed well pleased, telling Bob that I far excelled him - a remark
that seemed to grieve my musical companion very much.
Next day many customers called to examine Freeman's
"new lot." The latter gentleman was very loquacious, dwelling
at much length upon our several good points and qualities. He would
make us hold up our heads, walk briskly back and forth, while customers
would feel of our hands and arms and bodies, turn us about, ask us
what we could do, make us open our mouths and show our teeth, precisely
as a jockey examines a horse which he is about to barter for or purchase.
Sometimes a man or woman was taken back to the small house in the
yard, stripped, and inspected more minutely. Scars upon a slave's
back were considered evidence of a rebellious or unruly spirit, and
hurt his sale.
One old gentleman, who said he wanted a coachman,
appeared to take a fancy to me. From his conversation with Burch,
I learned he was a resident in the city. I very much desired that
he would buy me, because I conceived it would not be difficult to
make my escape from New-Orleans on some northern vessel. Freeman asked
him fifteen hundred dollars for me. The old gentleman insisted it
was too much, as times were very hard. Freeman, however, declared
that I was sound and healthy, of a good constitution, and intelligent.
He made it a point to enlarge upon my musical attainments. The old
gentleman argued quite adroitly that there was nothing extraordinary
about the nigger, and finally, to my regret, went out, saying he would
call again. During the day, however, a number of sales were made.
David and Caroline were purchased together by a Natchez planter. They
left us, grinning broadly, and in the most happy state of mind, caused
by the fact of their not being separated. Lethe was sold to a planter
of Baton Rouge, her eyes flashing with anger as she was led away.
The same man also purchased Randall. The little
fellow was made to jump, and run across the floor, and perform many
other feats, exhibiting his activity and condition. All the time the
trade was going on, Eliza was crying aloud, and wringing her hands.
She besought the man not to buy him, unless he also bought her self
and Emily. She promised, in that case, to be the most faithful slave
that ever lived. The man answered that he could not afford it, and
then Eliza burst into a paroxysm of grief, weeping plaintively. Freeman
turned round to her, savagely, with his whip in his uplifted hand,
ordering her to stop her noise, or he would flog her. He would not
have such work - such snivelling; and unless she ceased that minute,
he would take her to the yard and give her a hundred lashes. Yes,
he would take the nonsense out of her pretty quick - if he didn't,
might he be dead. Eliza shrunk before him, and tried to wipe away
her tears, but it was all in vain. She wanted to be with her children,
she said, the little time she had to live. All the frowns and threats
of Freeman, could not wholly silence the afflicted mother. She kept
on begging and beseeching them, most piteously not to separate the
three. Over and over again she told them how she loved her boy. A
great many times she repeated her former promises - how very faithful
and obedient she would be; how hard she would labor day and night,
to the last moment of her life, if he would only buy them all together.
But it was of no avail; the man could not afford it. The bargain was
agreed upon, and Randall must go alone. Then Eliza ran to him; embraced
him passionately; kissed him again and again; told him to remember
her - all the while her tears falling in the boy's face like rain.
(3)
Thomas
Johnson, Twenty-Eight Years a Slave (1909)
Hardly
a day passed without some one of my own long oppressed people being
led to the whipping post, and there lashed most unmercifully. Every
auction day many were sold away to Georgia, or some other of the far
off Southern States, and often could be seen in companies, handcuffed,
and on their way to the Southern markets, doomed, doomed to perpetual
slavery. So absolutely were the slaves in the power of their masters
that they were pledged, leased, exchanged, taken for debt or gambled
off at the gambling table; and men women, and children were sold by
auction at the public auction block - husbands and wives separated,
never to meet again, and little children torn from their parents'
loving arms, and sold into slavery, and into the hands of strangers
from distant parts.
(4)
Henry Bibb, The Life and Adventures of
an American Slave (1851)
A
slave may be bought and sold in the market like an ox. He is liable
to be sold off to a distant land from his family. He is bound in chains
hand and foot; and his sufferings are aggravated a hundred fold, by
the terrible thought, that he is not allowed to struggle against misfortune,
corporal punishment, insults and outrages committed upon himself and
family; and he is not allowed to help himself, to resist or escape
the blow, which he sees impending over him. I was a slave, a prisoner
for life; I could possess nothing, nor acquire anything but what must
belong to my keeper. No one can imagine my feelings in my reflecting
moments, but he who has himself been a slave.
(5)
Mary
Prince, The History of Mary Prince,
A West Indian Slave (1831)
The black morning at length
came; it came too soon for my poor mother and us. Whilst she was putting
on us the new osnaburgs in which we were to be sold, she said, in
a sorrowful voice, (I shall never forget it!) "See, I am shrouding
my poor children; what a task for a mother!" - She then called
Miss Betsey to take leave of us. "I am going to carry my little
chickens to market," (these were her very words.) "take
your last look of them: may be you will see them no more." "Oh,
my poor slaves! my own slaves!" said dear Miss Betsey, "you
belong to me: and it grieves my heart to part with you." - Miss
Betsey kissed us all, and, when she left us, my mother called the
rest of the slaves to bid us good bye. One of them, a woman named
Moll, came with her infant in her arms. "Ay!" said my mother,
seeing her turn away and look at her child with the tears in her eyes,
"your turn will come next." The slaves could say nothing
to comfort us; they could only weep and lament with us. When I left
my dear little brothers and the house in which I had been brought
up, I thought my heart would burst.
Our mother, weeping as
she went, called me away with the children Hannah and Dinah, and we
took the road that led to Hamble Town, which we reached about four
o'clock in the afternoon. We followed my mother to the market-place,
where she placed us in a row against a large house, with our backs
to the wall and our arms folded across our breasts. I, as the eldest,
stood first, Hannah next to me, then Dinah; and our mother stood beside,
crying over us. My heart throbbed with grief and terror so violently,
that I pressed my hands quite tightly across my breast, but I could
not keep it still, and it continued to leap as though it would burst
out of my body. But who cared for that? Did one of the many bystanders,
who were looking at us so carelessly, think of the pain that wrung
the hearts of the Negro woman and her young ones? No, no! They were
not all bad, I dare say, but slavery hardens white people's hearts
towards the blacks; and many of them were not slow to make their remarks
upon us aloud, without regard to our grief - though their light words
fell like cayenne on the fresh wounds of our hearts. Oh those white
people have small hearts who can only feel for themselves.
At length the vendue master,
who was to offer us for sale like sheep or cattle, arrived, and asked
my mother which was the eldest. She said nothing, but pointed to me.
He took me by the hand, and led me out into the middle of the street,
and, turning me slowly round, exposed me to the view of those who
attended the vendue. I was soon surrounded by strange men, who examined
and handled me in the same manner that a butcher would a calf or a
lamb he was about to purchase, and who talked about my shape and size
in like words - as if I could no more understand their meaning than
the dumb beasts. I was then put up to sale. The bidding commenced
at a few pounds, and gradually rose to fifty-seven, when I was knocked
down to the highest bidder; and the people who stood by said that
I had fetched a great sum for so young a slave.
I then saw my sisters led
forth, and sold to different owners: so that we had not the sad satisfaction
of being partners in bondage. When the sale was over, my mother hugged
and kissed us, and mourned over us, begging of us to keep up a good
heart, and do our duty to our new masters. It was a sad parting; one
went one way, one another, and our poor mammy went home with nothing.
(6)
Olaudah
Equiano,
The Life of Olaudah Equiano the African
(1789)
We were not many days in the merchant's custody, before we were sold
after their usual manner, which is this: On a signal given, (as the
beat of a drum) the buyers rush at once into the yard where the slaves
are confined, and make choice of that parcel they like best. The noise
and clamor with which this is attended, and the eagerness visible
in the countenances of the buyers, serve not a little to increase
the apprehension of terrified Africans, who may well be supposed to
consider them as the ministers of that destruction to which they think
themselves devoted.
In this manner, without scruple, are relations and friends separated,
most of them never to see each other again. I remember, in the vessel
in which I was brought over, in the men's apartment, there were several
brothers, who, in the sale, were sold in different lots; and it was
very moving on this occasion, to see and hear their cries at parting.
Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends, to
toil for your luxury and lust of gain? Must every tender feeling be
likewise sacrificed to your avarice? Are the dearest friends and relations,
now rendered more dear by their separation from their kindred, still
to be parted from each other, and thus prevented from cheering the
gloom of slavery, with the small comfort of being together; and mingling
their sufferings and sorrows? Why are parents to lose their children,
brothers their sisters, husbands their wives? Surely, this is a new
refinement in cruelty, which, while it has no advantage to atone for
it, thus aggravates distress; and adds fresh horrors even to the wretchedness
of slavery.
(7)
James
Pennington, The
Fugitive Blacksmith (1859)
My
master once owned a beautiful girl about twenty-four. She had been
raised in a family where her mother was a great favorite. She was
her mother's darling child. Her master was a lawyer of eminent abilities
and great fame, but owing to habits of intemperance, he failed in
business, and my master purchased this girl for a nurse. After he
had owned her about a year, one of his sons became attached to her,
for no honorable purposes; a fact which was not only well-known among
all the slaves, but which became a source of unhappiness to his mother
and sisters.
The result was, that poor
Rachel had to be sold to Georgia. Never shall I forget the heart-rending
scene, when one day one of
the men was ordered to get "the one-horse cart ready to go into
town"; Rachel, with her few articles of clothing, was placed
in it, and taken into the very town where her parents lived, and there
sold to the traders before their weeping eyes. That same son who had
degraded her, and who was the cause of her being sold, acted as salesman,
and bill-of-saleman. While this cruel business was being transacted,
my master stood aside, and the girl's father, a pious member and exhorter
in the Methodist Church, a venerable grey-headed man, with his hat
off, besought that he might be allowed to get someone in the place
to purchase his child. But no: my master was invincible. His reply
was, "She has offended in my family, and I can only restore confidence
by sending her out of hearing." After lying in prison a short
time, her new owner took her with others to the far South, where her
parents heard no more of her.
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