Savannah: Brokers, Bankers, and Bay Lane: Inside the Slave Trade

Civil War Savannah Series by Barry Sheehy

by Barry Sheehy, Cindy Wallace (Photographer), Vaughnette Goode-Walker (Contributor)

The authors of Brokers, Bankers and Bay Lane are recent recipients of the 2012 Award for Excellence in Research from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board. The Award was issued to the authors by Georgia Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp in October of 2012. The second book in a four-part series, Brokers, Bankers, and Bay Lane journeys even deeper into Savannah's slave trading past to examine the business of slavery in the late antebellum period. With the simple premise that slavery could not have operated for so long without a viable business model, the authors examine the social, economic, and political factors that made the institution so remarkably resilient. Who was making a profit for the institution, and how much did they make? What did they think about their work and what did the community think? Who, besides the slave traders and masters, benefited? The authors also tell the stories of the slaves themselves, the human beings swept up and processed through this terrible machinery. What were their names and their stories? Answering these and other questions, the authors demonstrate how the institution of slavery in no way operated in a vacuum, but rather thrived on the support of local government, banks, church and community organizations, and established social networks. With stunning black and white photographs of physical structures and artifacts tied to the slave trade, this rich and compelling volume will give readers valuable insight into the unique and powerful role that Savannah played in the expansion of slavery in Georgia.

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 30, 2012

About the author

Barry Sheehy is the author or contributing author of several books, including the celebrated Savannah Immortal City and over fifty published papers and articles. His writings have appeared in anthologies alongside of those of Presidents Clinton and Bush, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and business leaders such as Lou Gerstner, Jack Welch and Michael Dell. He holds degrees from Loyola and McGill Universities.


Mr. Sheehy’s lifelong passion for history has continued since his early years as a decorated officer in the Canadian Armed Forces. His focus eventually turned to America’s most complete, surviving, antebellum southern city – Savannah, Georgia. After many years of exhaustive research, Sheehy began the task of developing the four-volume Civil War Savannah series in 2005. With rigorous cross-checking from both previously published works and newly discovered original materials, Sheehy has written the most extensive historical study of Civil War Savannah ever undertaken. Now, just in time for the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, the first volume, Savannah Immortal City, was published in February 2011, and the second, Brokers, Bankers, and Bay Lane: Inside the Savannah Slave Trade, is scheduled for publication in the spring of 2011.