![[Slavery] [Black Americana] Clagett, Richard. "Public Sale of Negroes" - Slavery Broadside, 1833](http://www.schubertiademusic.com/cdn/shop/files/Slavery_BlackAmericana_Clagett_Richard._PublicSaleofNegroes_26285_22134c3c-471d-4a47-8ae3-9f63510f72b3.jpg?v=1791570466)
CLAGETT, RICHARD. Public Sale of Negroes. Charleston, SC: 1833. Printed broadside, 352 x 213 mm, describing slaves to be sold at auction on March 5, 1833 in Charleston. Stains, small tears to edges, overall a good example of this rare chilling and iconic slavery broadside, advertising the sale of "Miscellaneous Lots of Negroes, mostly house servants, some for field work."
The first woman to be sold is described as the mother of ... four children, one a girl about 13 years of age, another 7, a boy about 5, and an infant 11 months old. 2 of the children will be sold with the mother, the others separately, "if it best suits the purchaser." At the end it lists ... "14 Negro Wenches ranging from 16 to 25 years of age, all sound and capable of doing a good days work in the house or field." The conditions of sale in the third paragraph, "1/2 cash, balance by bond ... payable in one to two years to be secured by a mortgage ... , give an insight into the trade in slaves during the period. The identity of the seller, Richard Clagett, is not known. Roy Hummel, Southeastern Broadsides 2140, gives three copies known, but a greater number have appeared on the collector's market, in addition to examples at the University of South Carolina Library, the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale, and the New York Public Library.
Grotesque in so many ways, one notable feature here was the cavalier way Clagett offered to break up a family – without any concern for the turmoil and pain they would feel. Clagett, like many others of his time, saw no familial connections worth considering. Indeed, during slavery, keeping families together was not the norm. According to one account, of the 272 women advertised for sale with their children between 1838 and 1844 in Charleston, only eight actually were sold as a family with a husband.
Charleston in the mid-1800s was the place where most enslaved Africans first set foot in the country, making it America’s slave trade-capital. Enslaved Africans were initially auctioned on the streets until a slave mart called Ryan’s Mart was opened. It is now the site of the city’s Old Slave Mart and Museum. The enslaved Africans in the Clagett sale, have been immortalized in the play “One More River to Cross: A Verbatim Fugue” by Lynn Nottage and the musical work “African Portraits” by composer and jazz trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe.
CLAGETT, RICHARD. Public Sale of Negroes. Charleston, SC: 1833. Printed broadside, 352 x 213 mm, describing slaves to be sold at auction on March 5, 1833 in Charleston. Stains, small tears to edges, overall a good example of this rare chilling and iconic slavery broadside, advertising the sale of "Miscellaneous Lots of Negroes, mostly house servants, some for field work."
The first woman to be sold is described as the mother of ... four children, one a girl about 13 years of age, another 7, a boy about 5, and an infant 11 months old. 2 of the children will be sold with the mother, the others separately, "if it best suits the purchaser." At the end it lists ... "14 Negro Wenches ranging from 16 to 25 years of age, all sound and capable of doing a good days work in the house or field." The conditions of sale in the third paragraph, "1/2 cash, balance by bond ... payable in one to two years to be secured by a mortgage ... , give an insight into the trade in slaves during the period. The identity of the seller, Richard Clagett, is not known. Roy Hummel, Southeastern Broadsides 2140, gives three copies known, but a greater number have appeared on the collector's market, in addition to examples at the University of South Carolina Library, the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale, and the New York Public Library.
Grotesque in so many ways, one notable feature here was the cavalier way Clagett offered to break up a family – without any concern for the turmoil and pain they would feel. Clagett, like many others of his time, saw no familial connections worth considering. Indeed, during slavery, keeping families together was not the norm. According to one account, of the 272 women advertised for sale with their children between 1838 and 1844 in Charleston, only eight actually were sold as a family with a husband.
Charleston in the mid-1800s was the place where most enslaved Africans first set foot in the country, making it America’s slave trade-capital. Enslaved Africans were initially auctioned on the streets until a slave mart called Ryan’s Mart was opened. It is now the site of the city’s Old Slave Mart and Museum. The enslaved Africans in the Clagett sale, have been immortalized in the play “One More River to Cross: A Verbatim Fugue” by Lynn Nottage and the musical work “African Portraits” by composer and jazz trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe.