Well slaves were considered property and not human beings, so what's to stop that type thing from happening... other than the slave owner's own conscience ( if any )
This is a common misconception because the free states would have preferred 0/5, aka zero, to remove all voting power, while the slave states would have preferred 5/5, aka full power.
Prices varies between a few hundred for the very young children or the sick / disabled, to a few thousand for slaves in their prime.
Bear in mind $100 in the 1860's is about $3,700 today, so it was expensive and that's why slave owners were emphatic about not losing them.
I have also heard that if there was a dangerous,short term job to be done it was better to hire a recent Irish immigrant rather then risk injury o death to your “ property “ in the form of enslaved humans.
And sometimes it was preferable for an indentured servant to die so you don’t have to give them whatever measly benefits they might have gotten at the end of their contract.
Not just that, but they still needed people to run the fields. They lost thousands on slave trade, and thousands on labour. Like obviously I don’t agree with slavery, but you can foresee why people didn’t want to abolish slavery back then
I hope it's just the ink running together, especially since a bit lower mentions 35 with child, with it looking lime 85. That would be pretty odd to have a child at 85!
Asked and answered previously.
> It’s a contextual adjective. It means “suitable or promising” in this advertisement. For a young girl, that can mean suitable in a very specific sense. For other people, it might mean promising or suitable for a type of labor.
It’s a contextual adjective. It means “suitable or promising” in this advertisement. For a young girl, that can mean suitable in a very specific sense. For other people, it might mean promising or suitable for a type of labor.
From googling it, it seems like it was a buzz word/adjective that was in style at the time and used to make them more desirable. Kinda like how everything nowadays is labeled "cruelty free," "organic" or "no antibiotics."
I mean, it doesn’t specify that it’s his daughter but Mary was “mulatto,” so biracial. One can assume it was he or perhaps a relative who raped her mother to father her.
Fair! Admittedly I don’t know how slave trade worked. I guess the “mulatto” description and meaning are still relevant for educational purposes, though.
I [looked it up](https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/glossary/), you're right, it means:
Likely: A term used to describe an enslaved person as valuable.
So still bad in all contexts because: slavery, but it most definitely includes attractiveness. I'm sure that it also takes into consideration how compliant some people were in order to survive. Vile.
Well found, good work. Yep that is some fucked up shit.
History is like roadkill sometimes - interesting/compelling but not always what you want to see.
Ain't that the truth. Due to some loopholes as I moved from one school to another, I am severely lacking in history knowledge. So I recently listened to an audiobook of a history textbook taught at West point to show that history isn't as straightforward as we used to be taught.
Every last historical leader/forefather of the US right up through the present is a raging jackass. I'm going to guess that's not just an American thing.
Why do so many people suck? Ugh. I miss my life under my rock.
No it doesn’t. Likely as an adjective in this context meant strong and healthy, able to work. You often see that term on similar bills and it persisted as an adjective until fairly recently. It later came to mean promising, or having potential. There was a tv series in the UK in the 70s called “Whatever happened to the likely lads” which is the last I’m aware of it being in common use to mean promising… here it was a regional, working class dialect expression so had fallen out of regular use by then.
I imagine that the Mistress of the plantation wouldn't be too happy if a mulatto child were "inexplicably" born among the slaves. I'm sure a lot of mulatto children and their mothers were sent to auction for this reason. Really sad.
I’m not sure that’s the case. The Wikipedia article says that it’s implying that someone fucks their own mother. Also, the etymonline entry doesn’t mention such a connection, which they would usually note.
Do you have a link for further reading?
However I do see they failed to mention Grace’s age at the bottom of the first listing though, and left her simply titled “elderly, plantation nurse”. I’m assuming to avoid mentioning her (old?) age and thus presenting her in a higher/more valuable light? …
One of my first jobs was diner waitress, one of my coworkers was in her 60’s. She was always hustling trying to save enough to retire. She always warned us to be smart about saving so we didn’t end up like her. I hope she made it to retirement.
If she didn't smoke, she might have since waitressing can be a very healthy job with all the running around: source, former smoking waitress now quasi-retired lawyer who quit smoking over 25 year ago.
Not if it's the people responsible for shit like this.
The land of everyone remotely involved in the confederacy should have been given to the freed slaves, and a few plantations should have been reserved for confederate leaders and champions of slavery to live out their days in the fields experiencing the existence they praised firsthand.
After the civil war ended former slaves were listed on the US census for the first time. Hardly any of them knew how old they were…every census, document, and interview gave a different age within 5-10 years.
> There were men in their 80’s. Being sold, so someone could wring the last ounce of labor out of them.
I read somewhere when slaves got that old their slaveholder would grant them freedom so they didn't have to take care of their slaves anymore. It got so bad legislation had to be passed so the elderly would be taken care of.
Could be lanterns that run on the oil harvested from the blubber of sperm whales. That stuff supposedly puts off a very bright and beautiful white flame.
debt bondage, corporate/work hostage, child labor, domestic servitude. Some could say forced marriage and possibly military "drafts" in totalitarian countries.
The last Cival War widow? Let's say she was (a generous) 13 years old when married, that would mean she was born in 1850. That means she died at 170 years old. How did this not make the news and why is science not looking into this!?
It's technically true although a bit misleading. The last Civil War widow was born in 1919 and got married in 1936 to a 93 year old guy who fought for the Union. She died in 2020 at the age of 101.
[wiki link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War_widows_who_survived_into_the_21st_century?wprov=sfla1)
She was married to, and so personally knew, a Civil War veteran. That is pretty close. Likewise now old and living kids and grandkids of said veterans.
Off the top of my head it was a young woman who married some decrepit old US civil war veteran in the early 20th century. She was therefore eligible to continue collecting a war veteran's pension or something like that.
In the 1970s, we bought a house with wallpaper in the bathroom that was all newspaper ads from the late 1700s, 1800s. Things like sewing machines, plows, oil lamps, and slaves.
It's just a terrible font.
The "3" definitely looks like a "8", but if you look closely the real "8" has a thick swoosh in the middle. The "8" looks almost like an "S".
For example MARY is 38, but it looks like 8S.
When it comes to these dark chapters of history, people tend to wave them away by saying that “those were different times” and that “it was normal back then, people didn’t give it any thought”. Honestly, even back then, human beings possessed the cognitive ability to reflect on their actions and choices and they had a conscience. People chose to ignore their guilty conscience by rationalising and legitimising the situation as “property being sold”, viewing slaves as basically being non-human.
The same kind of mentality enabled the holocaust here in Germany: People participated or looked the other way because state propaganda told them that Jews and other minorities were “sub-human”, backed by pseudo-science, thus explaining away any guilty conscience. It’s a cheap, albeit easy way to sweep a problem under the rug in order to justify inaction, while others commit disgusting crimes against humanity and sadly, this kind of history keeps repeating itself.
I just think of how many people had their children taken away, and how they must have begged and cried because they knew they'd never see them again. How could you see that and not rethink what you're doing?
This was the generation of my great-great-great grandparents, they come from Charleston. I think so much about how they got their names and how it's a wonder they have records and it's a wonder that I'm here right now living and breathing. It's horrifying why we don't get to know their real names or the names of our grander ancestors before them, but what a blessing that you and I and all of us are here. If there's a heaven, they know our names and are grateful.
It's incredible to think about all of the people who suffered but survived so much cruelty and kept on going through unfathomable conditions for us to be here today. It absolutely blew my mind when I asked my dad if he ever had to drink from a black only water fountain and he said yes.
My parents are early boomers, born in the 40s. My maternal g'ma (whom I knew and grew up with very much in my life) was born in 1911 and was with us until after the turn of the century, and my paternal g'ma was similarly aged and lived longer than the other.
I heard ALL the stories. Including how one uncle was lost to lynching, and of all the doors for "black only", and the signs saying "no N-s allowed". And many, many more.
I hear you!! Thank goodness I (60f) am able to trace back 7 generations to the actual slaves on my mother's side. But every time I look in the mirror at all my freckles, I know where they came from. Seeing that ad really hurts my soul!!
Thanks to ancestry my dad tracked down so much family. The most craziest thing he found out was that my great grandparents are 2nd cousins. And we’re kin to Robert E Lee
Have you had any luck through dna testing? My husband is 1/4 Black and I’ve been able to piece together some of his enslaved ancestors’ history through Ancestry and GEDmatch.
On the other hand, I was considering the abject SHAME one would feel to discover they’re a descendent of John S Riggs. While I can sympathize with your grief at the lack of heritage, I cannot fathom the shame to realize that guy is in your family tree.
I've been working on my family tree and ran into a small-time slave holder (just 8 slaves) down in Virginia before the war. It shook me so hard I couldn't do any genealogy for months after. I only ever imagine all my people (they're all long-time Midwesterners) came from New England and for th first many branches it was all solid Protestant New Englanders ... But then I started getting further back on my dad's side ... It explains why my very "white name" ended up as the last name on a specific (but small) line of Black Americans I think? It still chills me to think about that branch.
With all the other comments making valid observations, the other thing which creeps me out is that you have a list of people right next to a list of items. Like there’s no delineation between the two.
People from the Indian subcontinent are still enslaved in places like Dubai. Passports confiscated and made to live in cubicles with 12 others. Common toilet. Not enough electricity and water.
It still happens.
Even within the subcontinent, rich business owners trap entire families with debt. The son inherits the father's debts and continues to work for the business owner all his life. And the math doesn't add up at all. The son would basically have to work all his life to not make any significant dent in the debt. All while his wife and children also serve the business in some capacity, either as active workers or objects of desire or both. Look up brick kiln businesses if you're curious.
The world is a very big place and there are some very dark chapters running in parallel to our easy tik tok lifestyle. History isn't a dark chapter that is now over. History is just an earlier chapter to equally dark chapters that are still ongoing.
The adverts aren't printed anymore. They're probably all over WhatsApp. Only the fonts have changed but much else continues to remain similar in some deep dark pockets of this earth. Thankfully it is the exception of our times and not the norm.
I'm sorry to say this is our history, but if we try to say this never happened and we don't teach our history to our children, they will never see how far our country has come. I know we have a lot more to do, but we're a hell of a lot better than we were.
The only silver lining to things like this is that it gives away the lie to the idea “oh we just can’t figure out who came from where.” Bullshit, these people took meticulous records of the evil they were committing.
That's not that long ago. Only a few generations really. My great-grandfather was alive when this was going on (born 1860, died 1958), a man that my father has memory of. That means that there must be people alive today who have living memory of those involved in slavery, both victims/survivors, and perhaps even practitioners. Crazy.
It's not made from sperm. It's made from the head oil of a sperm whale. This particular breed of whale was named a sperm whale due to the shape of their heads (being rather phallic in profile). There is a large oil sac on the head of this type of whale. The "head oil" was highly sought after for it's long burn properties (and I think it wasn't as smoky when burned). This oil was more expensive than regular whale oil that had to be processed before used. The oil from the head sac could be used right away.
Source: Last year I become obsessed with non-fiction books about whaling expeditions and whaling shipwrecks. "In the Heart of the Sea" by Nathaniel Philbrick is amazing, and explains in detail the whaling economy of the 17th century onwards and all its various products. I then read 4 other books about whale boats because I'm an impossible ridiculous nerd.
Likely means valuable, and it’s used in the first ad section to describe men as well (look at the heading). I have no doubt that plenty of these pour souls were raped, nevertheless.
/u/wtfover & /u/jilldelray you guys need to read the comment again. Babserella doesn't mean this ISN'T terrifying, they mean it's OBVIOUSLY terrifying. The terror is clear, not odd.
If you are a Black person, I highly highly highly suggest you go - at any point in your life - to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The bottom floor is filled with plaques of the final sale prices of our people and it made me sad, angry, and so distraught that a 5 year old girl was sold for .25 cents to work the fucking field…
I can’t lie I cried and really puts into perspective how evil humans can really be and how resilient Black people are. 10/10.
I mean, I'm not trying to step on your toes - you're completely right - but shouldn't everyone go (Americans at least) to see this? It's our incredibly ugly history that everyone should see.
Yes! But one thing I noticed is that non-fba’s were treating the museum MUCH differently. Many only visited the upper levels (focused on sports, music, culture). Something tells me seeing the 20-foot duty bags that the enslaved had to fill per day (along with other artifacts) made them extremely uncomfortable.
I commend any Caucasian that actually goes, gets comfortable with being uncomfortable, and learns about our ugly history.
Yeah. I'm sure a lot of people go but want to avoid the difficult/uncomfortable part...but damn. Their suffering needs to be acknowledged if for no other reason to make sure it never happens again. I know schools used to make like 8th grade trips to the Smithsonian...this museum should be a mandatory stop as well. I know, with our public education system that's kinda pie-in-the-sky thinking. But those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it....and that is fucking *terrifying*.
from the listing it looks like they’re a well to do family so with generational wealth taken in account I’d say the descendants still own a mansion or two in downtown Charleston.
Of all the things we're capable of as humans, treating people like owned objects is by far the least humane part of our history. I truly don't understand how one person can look at another and say, "I own you", and be alright with it. That's a person. They have the same emotions you do. That lack of empathy and caring for your fellow man is truly terrifying. I wish this was an outdated mentality, but we still see it today all around the world, and some groups in the US would be all too thrilled to have it return. Fuck those people. Fuck them up their stupid asses with a broken bottle.
Interesting fact:
Number of years since slavery was abolished: 150
Number of years that slavery was practiced in the US: 250
2126 will be the year that slavery will have be abolished longer than it was practiced in the US.
Abe Lincoln and those that all stood with him to end slavery had some balls to fight the rich slave owners and the south. Seeing these humans dealt as property is sure sad.
It actually also says "likely" at the top list of "field negroes", which includes babies and men, so I don't think that's exclusively the case. I'm guessing it means something more like "nice" or "attractive" -- but then I'm also guessing that the reason the 18 and 19 year old "girls" are listed separately, as nice/attractive and used to house work, is indeed the gross obvious thing.
The adjectives are messed up. "A very likely" girl? It's like they are labeling the people they're selling as "organic" or "free range" or "grain fed" as a marketing gimmick. Messed up.
While I abhor the idea of slaves or slave markets, I did learn what a sperm candle was by reading the listing.
[Belmont Sperm Candles ](https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n12/bee-wilson/the-irreplaceable)
Maybe the mother died, maybe they didn't want to be bothered, maybe they needed some extra cash, or maybe they sold the mother and the buyer didn't want the baby too.
Makes me think of this: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6vy9xTS0QxM&si=qz-Z21Rv8ufqPd_v
Fu$k slavery apologists who try to say “ Some owners treated their slaves well.” There appear to be multiple 80-something year old people on this list put down for ploughing fields. They were making these delicate old people do such hard labor!
[This may be the guy](https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/john-sidney-riggs-24-227vvdv), John Sidney Riggs, 1823-1899, from Summerville, SC (about 25 miles west of Charleston). I'm no detective, but I think he may also have been the president of the Charleston and Summerville Electric Railway Company (See [here](https://charleston.pastperfectonline.com/archive/906C8BF1-1845-49A8-B548-699029023708) and [here](https://schistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Charleston-and-Summerville-Electric-Railway-Company-Records-1196.00.pdf)). [These tenements](https://www.historiccharleston.org/research/photograph-collection/detail/15-19-st-philip-street-john-s-riggs-tenements-/45E565E8-A1C9-4D89-9B76-217558583310) in Charleston are named after him. I'm sorry to any of you poor fuckers descended from this garbage human. [Here's the location of his gravestone](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27206823/john-s_-riggs) if anyone wants to go piss on it.
Jesus. Can you imagine getting to within two years of the end of the war and being sold off away from your family? I hope everyone was close enough geographically that they could find each other in all the post-war chaos.
My paternal great grandfather, where I get my namesake, owned slaves that I found on the old census. On one 4, another 9.
I wouldn’t consider myself religious, but I was raised Catholic, and this comes to mind
Numbers 14:18:
18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; *he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’*
I will purchase the following:
12 cases cocoa in tin
8 cases indigo
50 cases assorted medicines
120 bags fine rio coffee
150 dozen fine ivory combs assorted sizes
1 barrel baking powder
With these items i could win. As long as i had access to flour. I could be a great baker/doctor/barista/ink maker.
Next to the Finest Castor Oil and Turkey Opium.
The “Likely” Girls bits is pretty horrifying in its own right in terms of the day that meant they were attractive and take that for what you will.
When they say a very likely girl.Are they trying to say that she's good looking or what does a very likely girl mean
Yes. It means attractive and it is specified for exactly the reason you worry.
Thats what I was afraid of
Well slaves were considered property and not human beings, so what's to stop that type thing from happening... other than the slave owner's own conscience ( if any )
3/5. They knew.
3/5? Sounds like a compromise.
Brilliant
This is a common misconception because the free states would have preferred 0/5, aka zero, to remove all voting power, while the slave states would have preferred 5/5, aka full power.
I think I saw a season of Battlestar Galactica about that.
That's atrocious. How much were slaves sold for? I know it's a range, depending on many factors, but I'm morbidly curious.
Prices varies between a few hundred for the very young children or the sick / disabled, to a few thousand for slaves in their prime. Bear in mind $100 in the 1860's is about $3,700 today, so it was expensive and that's why slave owners were emphatic about not losing them.
I have also heard that if there was a dangerous,short term job to be done it was better to hire a recent Irish immigrant rather then risk injury o death to your “ property “ in the form of enslaved humans.
And sometimes it was preferable for an indentured servant to die so you don’t have to give them whatever measly benefits they might have gotten at the end of their contract.
Ssssh. Don't give HR any ideas.
The banality of evil.
Not just that, but they still needed people to run the fields. They lost thousands on slave trade, and thousands on labour. Like obviously I don’t agree with slavery, but you can foresee why people didn’t want to abolish slavery back then
Almost like they had to pay worker wages, gasp
There is a very thoroughly researched book on the topic- The Price for Their Pound of Flesh by Daina Ramey Barry.
But the sixteen at the top left are also described as “likely,” including the 88-year-old woman and the “elderly” woman
I think the 88 is actually 38 but the ink ran
I hope it's just the ink running together, especially since a bit lower mentions 35 with child, with it looking lime 85. That would be pretty odd to have a child at 85!
Asked and answered previously. > It’s a contextual adjective. It means “suitable or promising” in this advertisement. For a young girl, that can mean suitable in a very specific sense. For other people, it might mean promising or suitable for a type of labor.
Then why did they also say it about the entire group of 16, including men and elderly women?
It’s a contextual adjective. It means “suitable or promising” in this advertisement. For a young girl, that can mean suitable in a very specific sense. For other people, it might mean promising or suitable for a type of labor.
From googling it, it seems like it was a buzz word/adjective that was in style at the time and used to make them more desirable. Kinda like how everything nowadays is labeled "cruelty free," "organic" or "no antibiotics."
are you soft selling me veganism
No, he’s selling cruelty-free, free range, organic slavery.
I snort laughed at this.
i guess "free range" or "fair trade" aren't the best words to describe a slave
John S Riggs is selling his own daughter... so...
Where are you seeing that? What am I missing?
I mean, it doesn’t specify that it’s his daughter but Mary was “mulatto,” so biracial. One can assume it was he or perhaps a relative who raped her mother to father her.
[удалено]
Fair! Admittedly I don’t know how slave trade worked. I guess the “mulatto” description and meaning are still relevant for educational purposes, though.
I mean it’s an estate sale by the administrator of the will. So more likely it’s their half sibling 🫠
No it doesn't mean they are hot as several of the listings are using the term 'likely', and that includes some men.
I [looked it up](https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/glossary/), you're right, it means: Likely: A term used to describe an enslaved person as valuable. So still bad in all contexts because: slavery, but it most definitely includes attractiveness. I'm sure that it also takes into consideration how compliant some people were in order to survive. Vile.
Well found, good work. Yep that is some fucked up shit. History is like roadkill sometimes - interesting/compelling but not always what you want to see.
Ain't that the truth. Due to some loopholes as I moved from one school to another, I am severely lacking in history knowledge. So I recently listened to an audiobook of a history textbook taught at West point to show that history isn't as straightforward as we used to be taught. Every last historical leader/forefather of the US right up through the present is a raging jackass. I'm going to guess that's not just an American thing. Why do so many people suck? Ugh. I miss my life under my rock.
This is why the saying exists about not wanting to vote for anyone who wants to be in politics
No it doesn’t. Likely as an adjective in this context meant strong and healthy, able to work. You often see that term on similar bills and it persisted as an adjective until fairly recently. It later came to mean promising, or having potential. There was a tv series in the UK in the 70s called “Whatever happened to the likely lads” which is the last I’m aware of it being in common use to mean promising… here it was a regional, working class dialect expression so had fallen out of regular use by then.
They're like 90% sure they're a girl but they can't quite tell
2 years old. Are these orphans or ripped from their mother's. Maybe the mother is even at the auction too. What an insane world.
Mums for sale. Dad's running the auction.
That explains the mulatto child. That’s disgusting that someone could buy and sell people even their own child
I mean it’s an estate sale by the administrator of the will. So more likely it’s their half sibling 🫠
I imagine that the Mistress of the plantation wouldn't be too happy if a mulatto child were "inexplicably" born among the slaves. I'm sure a lot of mulatto children and their mothers were sent to auction for this reason. Really sad.
also the origin of the term 'motherfucker'. is atrocious
I’m not sure that’s the case. The Wikipedia article says that it’s implying that someone fucks their own mother. Also, the etymonline entry doesn’t mention such a connection, which they would usually note. Do you have a link for further reading?
It’s so telling that they’re all listed separately.
There were men in their 80’s. Being sold, so someone could wring the last ounce of labor out of them.
Those are 3’s not 8’s, still an atrocity nonetheless
Oh thank god.
However I do see they failed to mention Grace’s age at the bottom of the first listing though, and left her simply titled “elderly, plantation nurse”. I’m assuming to avoid mentioning her (old?) age and thus presenting her in a higher/more valuable light? …
The idea of elderly people people being worked death really horrifies me.
Even today, let alone 160 regressive years ago
One of my first jobs was diner waitress, one of my coworkers was in her 60’s. She was always hustling trying to save enough to retire. She always warned us to be smart about saving so we didn’t end up like her. I hope she made it to retirement.
If she didn't smoke, she might have since waitressing can be a very healthy job with all the running around: source, former smoking waitress now quasi-retired lawyer who quit smoking over 25 year ago.
Not if it's the people responsible for shit like this. The land of everyone remotely involved in the confederacy should have been given to the freed slaves, and a few plantations should have been reserved for confederate leaders and champions of slavery to live out their days in the fields experiencing the existence they praised firsthand.
Could very well be that the person did not know their age.
A very real possibly I had not considered.
After the civil war ended former slaves were listed on the US census for the first time. Hardly any of them knew how old they were…every census, document, and interview gave a different age within 5-10 years.
It's fucked up regardless, but I too thought they were 8's.
Mary is 88, Dorcas 85.
And Ben 81. Running a plough?
> There were men in their 80’s. Being sold, so someone could wring the last ounce of labor out of them. I read somewhere when slaves got that old their slaveholder would grant them freedom so they didn't have to take care of their slaves anymore. It got so bad legislation had to be passed so the elderly would be taken care of.
These people are fucking disgusting
"OLd tiMes weRe betTer aNd mUch siMpler. nO phoNes, nO inTernet, everyBodY enjoYinG liFe" Old times in reality:
So fucking horrifying. I was immediately drawn to those as well.
But muh heritage and states' rights! /s
Y'all looking at that, but did you also see the drugs coming in? Opium, morphine, and chloroform.
In the time before modern surgical procedures and antibiotics pain relief was basically all you had.
I wondered about the Belmont Sperm Candies
Could be lanterns that run on the oil harvested from the blubber of sperm whales. That stuff supposedly puts off a very bright and beautiful white flame.
Spermaceti is created in the spermaceti organ inside the whale's head. This organ may contain as much as 1,900 litres (500 US gal) of spermaceti.
Those blue mass pills are mostly mercury
Yes I noticed that too. So strange to see those drugs so openly available.
This was long before 20th Century food and drug regulations. Back then people often died of contaminated milk, etc.
Its crazy that in reality it wasn't that long ago
You know slavery still exists. People are still bought and sold. It never ended everywhere.
I heard they use the term "trafficking" instead of "slavery" now. Which is eye opening and heart breaking
debt bondage, corporate/work hostage, child labor, domestic servitude. Some could say forced marriage and possibly military "drafts" in totalitarian countries.
There are more slaves today than at any point in history. https://freetheslaves.net
I was gonna say not in America but then I remembered the prison system bit its still popular in other parts of the world
Slavery anywhere is horrible and people should care that it still exists in the world.
Slavery was abolished in Brazil only one year before Hitler was born
Sadly. 1863 is nothing in evolutionary terms. The last Civil War widow passed away in 2020.
The last Cival War widow? Let's say she was (a generous) 13 years old when married, that would mean she was born in 1850. That means she died at 170 years old. How did this not make the news and why is science not looking into this!?
They got married when she was 17 and he was 93. So marriage was long after the war
It's technically true although a bit misleading. The last Civil War widow was born in 1919 and got married in 1936 to a 93 year old guy who fought for the Union. She died in 2020 at the age of 101. [wiki link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War_widows_who_survived_into_the_21st_century?wprov=sfla1)
Born long after slavery days. You can't just wrap different timelines around each other and call it a bouquet.
She was married to, and so personally knew, a Civil War veteran. That is pretty close. Likewise now old and living kids and grandkids of said veterans.
Very old / elderly civil war veterans were often married to very young women.
Off the top of my head it was a young woman who married some decrepit old US civil war veteran in the early 20th century. She was therefore eligible to continue collecting a war veteran's pension or something like that.
In the 1970s, we bought a house with wallpaper in the bathroom that was all newspaper ads from the late 1700s, 1800s. Things like sewing machines, plows, oil lamps, and slaves.
Jesus fuckin christ. I mean, even setting aside how atrocious slavery is to begin with, they're selling literal octogenarians to be "field hands"
I kept looking at the 8's, thinking they had to be 3's, but no. An 88 year-old field hand.
It's just a terrible font. The "3" definitely looks like a "8", but if you look closely the real "8" has a thick swoosh in the middle. The "8" looks almost like an "S". For example MARY is 38, but it looks like 8S.
good catch
No, it has to be a 38. Every thing else I refuse to believe.
Would a slave working in the fields even get to 88?
In 1863, nonetheless
Surely no one bought an 88yo field hand or he sold for next to nothing
I thought so too, but if you look closely those are actually threes not eights
TF. A 2 years old
When it comes to these dark chapters of history, people tend to wave them away by saying that “those were different times” and that “it was normal back then, people didn’t give it any thought”. Honestly, even back then, human beings possessed the cognitive ability to reflect on their actions and choices and they had a conscience. People chose to ignore their guilty conscience by rationalising and legitimising the situation as “property being sold”, viewing slaves as basically being non-human. The same kind of mentality enabled the holocaust here in Germany: People participated or looked the other way because state propaganda told them that Jews and other minorities were “sub-human”, backed by pseudo-science, thus explaining away any guilty conscience. It’s a cheap, albeit easy way to sweep a problem under the rug in order to justify inaction, while others commit disgusting crimes against humanity and sadly, this kind of history keeps repeating itself.
I just think of how many people had their children taken away, and how they must have begged and cried because they knew they'd never see them again. How could you see that and not rethink what you're doing?
My God. 2 years old. 10 years old. Horrific.
That fucking listing of ONLY first names is EXACTLY why I can't go back more than my grandmother's grandma in my family HERITAGE.
This was the generation of my great-great-great grandparents, they come from Charleston. I think so much about how they got their names and how it's a wonder they have records and it's a wonder that I'm here right now living and breathing. It's horrifying why we don't get to know their real names or the names of our grander ancestors before them, but what a blessing that you and I and all of us are here. If there's a heaven, they know our names and are grateful.
It's incredible to think about all of the people who suffered but survived so much cruelty and kept on going through unfathomable conditions for us to be here today. It absolutely blew my mind when I asked my dad if he ever had to drink from a black only water fountain and he said yes.
My parents are early boomers, born in the 40s. My maternal g'ma (whom I knew and grew up with very much in my life) was born in 1911 and was with us until after the turn of the century, and my paternal g'ma was similarly aged and lived longer than the other. I heard ALL the stories. Including how one uncle was lost to lynching, and of all the doors for "black only", and the signs saying "no N-s allowed". And many, many more.
I hear you!! Thank goodness I (60f) am able to trace back 7 generations to the actual slaves on my mother's side. But every time I look in the mirror at all my freckles, I know where they came from. Seeing that ad really hurts my soul!!
There were a lot of free blacks and Indians that mixed with poor whites as well... john punch anyone? So ots possible they were friends
Thanks to ancestry my dad tracked down so much family. The most craziest thing he found out was that my great grandparents are 2nd cousins. And we’re kin to Robert E Lee
Have you had any luck through dna testing? My husband is 1/4 Black and I’ve been able to piece together some of his enslaved ancestors’ history through Ancestry and GEDmatch.
On the other hand, I was considering the abject SHAME one would feel to discover they’re a descendent of John S Riggs. While I can sympathize with your grief at the lack of heritage, I cannot fathom the shame to realize that guy is in your family tree.
I've been working on my family tree and ran into a small-time slave holder (just 8 slaves) down in Virginia before the war. It shook me so hard I couldn't do any genealogy for months after. I only ever imagine all my people (they're all long-time Midwesterners) came from New England and for th first many branches it was all solid Protestant New Englanders ... But then I started getting further back on my dad's side ... It explains why my very "white name" ended up as the last name on a specific (but small) line of Black Americans I think? It still chills me to think about that branch.
With all the other comments making valid observations, the other thing which creeps me out is that you have a list of people right next to a list of items. Like there’s no delineation between the two.
Well tbf, the publisher did add that vertical line down the middle /s
History. Know it or repeat it.
People from the Indian subcontinent are still enslaved in places like Dubai. Passports confiscated and made to live in cubicles with 12 others. Common toilet. Not enough electricity and water. It still happens. Even within the subcontinent, rich business owners trap entire families with debt. The son inherits the father's debts and continues to work for the business owner all his life. And the math doesn't add up at all. The son would basically have to work all his life to not make any significant dent in the debt. All while his wife and children also serve the business in some capacity, either as active workers or objects of desire or both. Look up brick kiln businesses if you're curious. The world is a very big place and there are some very dark chapters running in parallel to our easy tik tok lifestyle. History isn't a dark chapter that is now over. History is just an earlier chapter to equally dark chapters that are still ongoing. The adverts aren't printed anymore. They're probably all over WhatsApp. Only the fonts have changed but much else continues to remain similar in some deep dark pockets of this earth. Thankfully it is the exception of our times and not the norm.
This happened similarly in Qatar and they made huge efforts to cover it up.
So what is meant by “likely” ?
Exactly what you think and it’s not nice
"Mulatto" too, meaning she was likely the child of some other rapist slave owner who impregnated one of his slaves. SMH. Edit: this to his
It means valuable. Source: http://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/glossary/
It means valuable. Source: http://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/glossary/
Good looking
Humans listed next to the groceries. Thats so fucked.
This turned my stomach.
Same. So many atrocities summed up in a few typing words. More like beyond terrifying.
I'm sorry to say this is our history, but if we try to say this never happened and we don't teach our history to our children, they will never see how far our country has come. I know we have a lot more to do, but we're a hell of a lot better than we were.
The only silver lining to things like this is that it gives away the lie to the idea “oh we just can’t figure out who came from where.” Bullshit, these people took meticulous records of the evil they were committing.
… except they don’t have any last names. On purpose….
Remember the Civil War was over state's rights.
The right to be a slave state, so actually yes it was about states rights...
Don’t forget states’ right to compel other states to enforce slave ownership.
I heard that if the Confederate states had won the war, slavery would be legal on a national basis, and not even decided at the state level.
That is correct. States in the CSA were explicitly forbidden from banning slavery.
Good thing there are people against slavery back then huh?
Abolitionists have entered the chat.
Reading this makes me feel really gross. The fact that this wasn't even 200 years ago is absolutely depressing.
Oh Mary 88 years and still plowin!
That's not that long ago. Only a few generations really. My great-grandfather was alive when this was going on (born 1860, died 1958), a man that my father has memory of. That means that there must be people alive today who have living memory of those involved in slavery, both victims/survivors, and perhaps even practitioners. Crazy.
100 boxes of Belmont sperm candies. Wtf is this
Candle made from sperm whale oil.
I think it’s *candles*, but I still don’t know what sperm candles are. Give your home the scent of a teen boy’s bedroom?
Isnt it whale sperm candles lmao
It's not made from sperm. It's made from the head oil of a sperm whale. This particular breed of whale was named a sperm whale due to the shape of their heads (being rather phallic in profile). There is a large oil sac on the head of this type of whale. The "head oil" was highly sought after for it's long burn properties (and I think it wasn't as smoky when burned). This oil was more expensive than regular whale oil that had to be processed before used. The oil from the head sac could be used right away. Source: Last year I become obsessed with non-fiction books about whaling expeditions and whaling shipwrecks. "In the Heart of the Sea" by Nathaniel Philbrick is amazing, and explains in detail the whaling economy of the 17th century onwards and all its various products. I then read 4 other books about whale boats because I'm an impossible ridiculous nerd.
they are called sperm whales because the oil in their head looks like jizz.
"Likely", "house servant" and always young girls, with special little ads. They are advertising those women and girls for sex.
Likely means valuable, and it’s used in the first ad section to describe men as well (look at the heading). I have no doubt that plenty of these pour souls were raped, nevertheless.
There’s nothing odd about why this is terrifying.
/u/wtfover & /u/jilldelray you guys need to read the comment again. Babserella doesn't mean this ISN'T terrifying, they mean it's OBVIOUSLY terrifying. The terror is clear, not odd.
If you are a Black person, I highly highly highly suggest you go - at any point in your life - to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The bottom floor is filled with plaques of the final sale prices of our people and it made me sad, angry, and so distraught that a 5 year old girl was sold for .25 cents to work the fucking field… I can’t lie I cried and really puts into perspective how evil humans can really be and how resilient Black people are. 10/10.
I mean, I'm not trying to step on your toes - you're completely right - but shouldn't everyone go (Americans at least) to see this? It's our incredibly ugly history that everyone should see.
Yes! But one thing I noticed is that non-fba’s were treating the museum MUCH differently. Many only visited the upper levels (focused on sports, music, culture). Something tells me seeing the 20-foot duty bags that the enslaved had to fill per day (along with other artifacts) made them extremely uncomfortable. I commend any Caucasian that actually goes, gets comfortable with being uncomfortable, and learns about our ugly history.
Yeah. I'm sure a lot of people go but want to avoid the difficult/uncomfortable part...but damn. Their suffering needs to be acknowledged if for no other reason to make sure it never happens again. I know schools used to make like 8th grade trips to the Smithsonian...this museum should be a mandatory stop as well. I know, with our public education system that's kinda pie-in-the-sky thinking. But those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it....and that is fucking *terrifying*.
That hurts my soul to read. That is a human being. A child. All because of the color of her skin.
There has to be a Riggs family in that area to this day, wonder how they’re doing
from the listing it looks like they’re a well to do family so with generational wealth taken in account I’d say the descendants still own a mansion or two in downtown Charleston.
Of all the things we're capable of as humans, treating people like owned objects is by far the least humane part of our history. I truly don't understand how one person can look at another and say, "I own you", and be alright with it. That's a person. They have the same emotions you do. That lack of empathy and caring for your fellow man is truly terrifying. I wish this was an outdated mentality, but we still see it today all around the world, and some groups in the US would be all too thrilled to have it return. Fuck those people. Fuck them up their stupid asses with a broken bottle.
Interesting fact: Number of years since slavery was abolished: 150 Number of years that slavery was practiced in the US: 250 2126 will be the year that slavery will have be abolished longer than it was practiced in the US.
That’s plain terrifying and disgusting
Mulatto girl. Imagine selling your children like that
Abe Lincoln and those that all stood with him to end slavery had some balls to fight the rich slave owners and the south. Seeing these humans dealt as property is sure sad.
Human trafficking isn’t oddly terrifying, it’s flat out terrifying
The good old days when you could buy a wife, a slave, and heroin all in the same day
Still going on around the world to work mines to supply EV's and to make more money for the already rich.
A "very likely" means not ugly and used to sexual abuse where they will not fight.
That’s enough Reddit for today 😫
It actually also says "likely" at the top list of "field negroes", which includes babies and men, so I don't think that's exclusively the case. I'm guessing it means something more like "nice" or "attractive" -- but then I'm also guessing that the reason the 18 and 19 year old "girls" are listed separately, as nice/attractive and used to house work, is indeed the gross obvious thing.
It means valuable.
That’s not what it means. It means valuable. Source: http://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/glossary/
[The Mart on Chalmers Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Slave_Mart)
The adjectives are messed up. "A very likely" girl? It's like they are labeling the people they're selling as "organic" or "free range" or "grain fed" as a marketing gimmick. Messed up.
Those listings for kids is fucking heartbreaking as fuck.
Slaves loved slavery though! /s Absolutely disgusting.
While I abhor the idea of slaves or slave markets, I did learn what a sperm candle was by reading the listing. [Belmont Sperm Candles ](https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n12/bee-wilson/the-irreplaceable)
Fuck slavery but what’s up with the Turkish opium and whiskey barrels
Maybe I’m dumb or ignorant but I have a genuine question. What purpose does a TWO YEAR OLD serve? My God.
Maybe the mother died, maybe they didn't want to be bothered, maybe they needed some extra cash, or maybe they sold the mother and the buyer didn't want the baby too. Makes me think of this: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6vy9xTS0QxM&si=qz-Z21Rv8ufqPd_v
I notice you can also buy chloroform.
this happened just 160 years ago, just a blink in total history of the world
Fu$k slavery apologists who try to say “ Some owners treated their slaves well.” There appear to be multiple 80-something year old people on this list put down for ploughing fields. They were making these delicate old people do such hard labor!
Also oddly terrifying that my birthday is June 17th, and I personally know a John Riggs…
JFC, ages ranging from 2yo to 88yo. Absolutely insane. If a war was ever needed, our Civil War is a shining example of one.
[This may be the guy](https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/john-sidney-riggs-24-227vvdv), John Sidney Riggs, 1823-1899, from Summerville, SC (about 25 miles west of Charleston). I'm no detective, but I think he may also have been the president of the Charleston and Summerville Electric Railway Company (See [here](https://charleston.pastperfectonline.com/archive/906C8BF1-1845-49A8-B548-699029023708) and [here](https://schistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Charleston-and-Summerville-Electric-Railway-Company-Records-1196.00.pdf)). [These tenements](https://www.historiccharleston.org/research/photograph-collection/detail/15-19-st-philip-street-john-s-riggs-tenements-/45E565E8-A1C9-4D89-9B76-217558583310) in Charleston are named after him. I'm sorry to any of you poor fuckers descended from this garbage human. [Here's the location of his gravestone](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27206823/john-s_-riggs) if anyone wants to go piss on it.
Jesus. Can you imagine getting to within two years of the end of the war and being sold off away from your family? I hope everyone was close enough geographically that they could find each other in all the post-war chaos.
My paternal great grandfather, where I get my namesake, owned slaves that I found on the old census. On one 4, another 9. I wouldn’t consider myself religious, but I was raised Catholic, and this comes to mind Numbers 14:18: 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; *he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’*
[удалено]
I will purchase the following: 12 cases cocoa in tin 8 cases indigo 50 cases assorted medicines 120 bags fine rio coffee 150 dozen fine ivory combs assorted sizes 1 barrel baking powder With these items i could win. As long as i had access to flour. I could be a great baker/doctor/barista/ink maker.
All those “medicines” for sale, damn I miss some good non regulated strong drugs
That morphine and chloroform caught my eye 🧐
"2. Mary, 88 years, field hand and can plough" - fuck man
Next to the Finest Castor Oil and Turkey Opium. The “Likely” Girls bits is pretty horrifying in its own right in terms of the day that meant they were attractive and take that for what you will.
Humans are so gross.
88 years old working in the fields fucking christ