Topic: African Americans
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Restriction on the State of Missouri
In this speech, Senator William Pinkney of Maryland defended the Missouri Compromise. Pinkney believed that the compromise would help preserve the Union, but he also insisted that the white inhabitants...
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Samuel Eveleigh’s Reasons for Slave Labor
This letter is from a South Carolina merchant to a correspondent in London. He reports on conditions in the recently founded colony of Georgia. He notes his disagreement with the...
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Sections of a Slave Ship
Slave ships were miserably crowded, as this print clearly shows. Traders put as many people as possible into the ships’ holds and gave them the minimum food, drink, and exercise...
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Slate and Pencil Grouping
These items were found at Mulberry Row, site of the slave quarters at Monticello. Archaeologists discovered coins, pottery, needles, and other evidence of family and community life. Enslaved people worked...
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Slave Advertisement
Colonial newspapers frequently carried advertisements for the sale of slaves. “Seasoned” slaves had spent time working in the Caribbean islands or elsewhere. Because they were presumed to have gained immunity...
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Slave Market
This view of the slave market in Charleston, South Carolina, was painted by an English naval officer named Henry Byam Martin. The artist clearly believed that Americans were hypocrites. He...
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Slave Trader, Sold to Tennessee
This painting depicts slaves being forced to march from Virginia to Tennessee. Congress ended slave importation in 1808, but the sale of slaves continued within the U.S. Many enslaved people...
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Slavery Broadside
Colonial newspapers often featured advertisements announcing the sale of slaves. The Africans in this advertisement were said to be from Sierra Leone. Although most slave traders tended to import many...
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Soldiers in Uniform
This image, produced in France, depicts the uniforms of various troops who fought on the American side during the American Revolution. The image includes a representation of a French soldier,...
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