- Apr 21, 2007
- 9,047
- 5,731
Dorcas, who was 17 and picked Sea Island cotton, sold for $1,200. Cassander, a 35-year-old “prime woman” who also picked cotton but was prone to “fits”, sold for “just” $400. The same price was paid for Emiline, 19, who was described as a “prime young woman cotton hand”, and Judy, who was only 11.
Under torrential rains, on 2 and 3 March 1859, these enslaved Africans, who worked on rice and cotton plantations in the Sea Islands of Georgia, were sold at the Ten Broeck racecourse in Savannah. One witness to the sale wrote that the weather was so “violent” that it felt as if the skies had opened and wept. That is how this event, the largest auction of enslaved people in US history, came to be called the Weeping Time.
The record of sale lists more than 400 men, women and children, identified as chattel and numbered, with their first names, expertise and price.
Tom, 22; cotton hand. Sold for $1,260. Judge Will, 55; rice hand. Sold for $325. Lowden, 54; cotton hand. Hagar, 50; cotton hand. Lowden, 15; cotton, prime boy. Silas, 13, cotton, prime boy. Lettia, 11; cotton, prime girl. Sold for $300 each. Fielding, 21; cotton, prime young man. Abel, 19; cotton, prime young man. Sold for $1,295 each.
Link full article https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng...e-fight-for-a-legacy-after-slavery-manchester
Under torrential rains, on 2 and 3 March 1859, these enslaved Africans, who worked on rice and cotton plantations in the Sea Islands of Georgia, were sold at the Ten Broeck racecourse in Savannah. One witness to the sale wrote that the weather was so “violent” that it felt as if the skies had opened and wept. That is how this event, the largest auction of enslaved people in US history, came to be called the Weeping Time.
The record of sale lists more than 400 men, women and children, identified as chattel and numbered, with their first names, expertise and price.
Tom, 22; cotton hand. Sold for $1,260. Judge Will, 55; rice hand. Sold for $325. Lowden, 54; cotton hand. Hagar, 50; cotton hand. Lowden, 15; cotton, prime boy. Silas, 13, cotton, prime boy. Lettia, 11; cotton, prime girl. Sold for $300 each. Fielding, 21; cotton, prime young man. Abel, 19; cotton, prime young man. Sold for $1,295 each.
Link full article https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng...e-fight-for-a-legacy-after-slavery-manchester
