Slaves and Slave Owners Documents

When the "New World" needed cheap labor for its plantations, slave traders kidnapped Africans from their home villages. A "triangle trade" system forever changed the lives of an entire people. Explore this collection to learn what those slaves endured, and discover stories of other types of slavery such as forced labor camps in the Soviet GULAG.

Image of the 2nd page of the preface from The Underground Railroad: A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters written by William Still. Click ...

Despite existing laws which would have required a different outcome, President Van Buren was concerned that the rights of Spain be protected since the...

The U.S. government allowed slave owners to seek-and-find runaways.  This text image depicts an example of advertisements, which owners published...

Wade Netherland believed he "owned" a slave named Samuel Howell.  This image depicts an advertisement which Netherland ran in the The Virginia Ga...

This is an excerpt from the oral history of Sarah Graves, also known as "Aunt Sally." Note that to maintain authenticity, writers transcribed the ora...

This text image depicts another excerpt from the oral history of Sarah Graves (also known as "Aunt Sally").  Interviewed in the 1930s, as part o...

During the 1930s, the federal government hired writers to interview former slaves and to obtain their oral histories. This is page 1 of the oral hist...

This is page 2 of the oral history of Sarah Grudger who claimed to be 121 years old at the time of the interview.  Click on the image for a bett...

This is page 3 of the oral history of Sarah Grudger who claimed to be 121 years old at the time of the interview.  Click on the image for a bett...

This is page 4 of the oral history of Sarah Grudger who claimed to be 121 years old at the time of the interview.  Click on the image for a bett...

This is page 5 of the oral history of Sarah Grudger who claimed to be 121 years old at the time of the interview.  Click on the image for a bett...

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