The Richmond Slave Trade: The Economic Backbone of the Old Dominion

by Jack Trammell, Jack Trammell

In many ways, the story of bondage in Virginia is the story of the state itself... Richmond's 15th Street was known as Wall Street in antebellum times, and like its New York counterpart, it was a center of commerce. But the business done here was unspeakable and the scene heart wrenching. With over sixty-nine slave dealers and auction houses, the Wall Street area saw tens of millions of dollars and countless human lives change hands, fueling the southern economy. Local historian and author Jack Trammell traces the history of the city's slave trade, from the origins of African slavery in Virginia to its destruction at the end of the Civil War. Stories of seedy slave speculators and corrupt traders are placed alongside detailed accounts of the economic, political and cultural impact of a system representing the most immense, concentrated human suffering in our nation's history.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2012

About the author

Jack Trammell is an assistant professor of sociology, a romance novelist, a descendant of Appalachian farmers and the father of seven children.

He is currently a candidate for Congress in Virginia.

Reviews

[Sarah Bierle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A clearly written glimpse of the historical details and horrors of the slave trade. Short, informative book, covering slavery in Virginia and Richmond from the Colonial Era through the Civil War.

[Vannessa Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Richmond Slave Trade is a relevant and urgent read for everyone who wants to learn about the principals America was founded on.

I really appreciated how author Trammell dealt with only the facts.

From the book

…a child’s free or slave status was determined by the status of its mother. Therefore, children born to enslaved women were black and hence slaves, and those born to and hence slaves, and those born to white women were white and therefore were free.

…during the antebellum period, many slaves were hired out

…as skilled laborers…engineers, blacksmiths and artisans, so that regardless of their status and immediate job, the value of their hired labor increased exponentially, ultimately becoming like stocks and futures to be bought and sold on speculation.

According to “African in American”, no white person has ever been sentenced to a lifetime of slaver.

Many tried to cloak slavery in biblical or historical terms or even argue that it was consistent with libertarianism.

Robert Lumpkin,…known as a “bully” trader…married a black woman, Mary, a former slave….

One grandfather left a slave woman…to his granddaughter, making sure to indicate that the granddaughter also was entitled to all offspring the slave woman might have…

Never forget

White men who raped and impregnated slaves are the original absentee fathers who denied their biological black children the life styles their white children enjoyed.

White men who raped and impregnated slaves are the original absentee fathers who did not pay child support and who plunged their biological black children into poverty that many have been unable to rise above to date.

White men who raped and impregnated slaves are the ones who denied their biological black children the right to the same education as their biological white children. Even today whites in power are carrying on the traditions of their ancestors.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

My heart breaks.