Reaction Paper 3 - Slave Trade in the Antebellum South

Price McGinnis

November 13, 2014

History 205 – History of Slavery in the U.S

Dr. McKinney

Slave Trade in Antebellum South

            The South, these two words conjure up serene, peaceful images of sweet tea, country music, and apple pie; but “Sweet Home Alabama” wasn’t always so sweet. It is no secret that America has a giant black eye on its body of history, and that black eye is slavery. One of the most horrendous and degrading instances of the corruption of the practice of trade was during the institution of slavery. This horrendous institution took place in the South below the “Bible Belt” amidst all the Southern hospitality. While slaveholders like Miriam Hilliard felt “the slave market held dreams of transformative possibilities”[1], the slave market was a wretched attempt at de-humanizing African Americans. The slave market in the antebellum era South indirectly infected other areas of the country and was a catalyst for racism in the United States. The slave market perpetuated racism by degrading African Americans and allowed White Americans to feel superior to minorities, especially the African Americans.

Slavery, and specifically the slave market, was maliciously infectious and although Northern and free states did not allow slavery nor the buying and selling of slaves, the institution and overall market still affected these states. One of the primary instances of Southern slavery effecting free states, was the strengthening of the fugitive slave law in 1850. This made it easier for Southern slave owners to retrieve their slaves from the free north. No matter where these slaves went, free state or not, those states had to respect the institution.[2] The fact that slave owners could retrieve slaves from the free north, regardless of the slave’s free or enslaved status, truly shows how slavery was prevalent in all parts of the United States, not just the South.

One of the most degrading aspects of the slave trade in the antebellum era South was the slave market, an appalling and undignified event where slaves were inspected and sold just like cattle or livestock. Slaves were kept in pens, much like cattle and Walter Johnson, in his book, Soul by Soul, tells us, “In the daily life of the slave pens, slaves were treated as physical manifestations of the categories the traders used to select their slaves.”[3] Slaves were arranged according to how they looked physically. These slave pens allowed for racism to run rampant because the white men held jurisdiction over the slaves, all of which were black. During the inspections of slaves that preceded the buying and selling of slaves, slave owners and buyers would attempt to get a medical record of the slaves. This helped to further perpetuate slavery and is evident when Walter Johnson makes the claim, “In Southern courtrooms and medical journals, slaves’ misbehavior was often attributed to an inward disposition of character, which meant that there was something invariably, inevitably, perhaps biologically “bad” about the slave.”[4] The fact that judges, jurors, doctors, and nurses felt that blacks were biologically “bad” is a concrete example of how the slave market, and the medical aspect of the market in particular, helped fuel racism in the antebellum era South by degrading African Americans. This was done by attempts to prove that African Americans were naturally inferior to White Americans.

While the slave market degraded African Americans and stimulated racism, the slave market also allowed for White Americans to foster the idea that they were superior to African Americans. One of leading sciences in the medical field that was employed through the slave market was phrenology, which is the study of the cranium or skull. White Americans used this science to prove that because African American skulls were shaped differently from White American skulls, African Americans were inferior to Whites.[5] Walter Johnson tells us that White Americans, “bought slaves to make themselves, frugal, independent, socially acceptable, or even fully white.”[6] The fact that white Americans felt that they had to buy another human of another race to gain social acceptance and even feel “white” shows that White Americans thought that they were superior to the African Americans.

The slave market in the South during the antebellum era was a horrendous occurrence in which human beings were sold to other human beings for profit. The slave market perpetuated and even encouraged racism. The market did not only affect the south, however, it spread like a disease indirectly throughout the United States. The market degraded African Americans by using medical “advances” to show how in-human they were. Not only were African Americans degraded, but also White Americans were made to feel superior, if not glorified, over the slaves. The market gave Whites a feeling of being fully white and socially acceptable when buying black slaves according to Walter Johnson. Because of these things that transpired during the antebellum South, the slave market spurred racism to thrive in the United States. The racism and race based issues are all still being dealt with today, in an effort to be a post-racial world.

---

Maggie Bradley - Extreme Dependence

Maggie Bradley

Professor McKinney

Slavery in the United States

November 12, 2014

bramh-18@rhodes.edu

Extreme Dependence

     As time passed, slavery continued to be the most pervasive establishment in the United States. Although people began questioning if slavery should be abolished, the institution never displayed signs of natural cessation. By the 1800’s, slavery had been woven into the very fabric of America. The South seemed to be particularly rooted in the practice of slavery. In creating widespread white reliance on the transformative powers of slavery, the institution produced lasting impacts for both the Antebellum South and the entire nation.

     The possibility of economic transformation proved to be a truly compelling interest for buying a slave. While there were numerous reasons to invest in a slave, men “were buying slaves to clear and till the fields, to plant and harvest the crops”. At its core, slavery was an economic institution. Farmers bought slaves in order to increase production and obtain wealth. More bodies for labor meant more money could be earned. White Southerners had a “dream of a never-ending cycle of purchase and profits”. Although most men knew they could not achieve the dream immediately, it was still lurking in their minds as a goal to reach one day. Without the hope of acquiring a greater income, most men would not consider wasting their money on a slave. Essentially, the original potential for greater wealth acted as the gateway for all other transformations.

     Perhaps the most alluring motivation for becoming a slaveholder was the social metamorphosis brought about by the change in economic status. Slavery played a large role in determining status due to one’s position often being dependent upon wealth and influence. Because slavery seemed to result in such prestige, men were always hoping to someday own a slave. White Southerners saw “buying a slave as a way of coming into their own in a society in which they were otherwise excluded”. Thus, slave ownership provided masters with access to more than the manual labor of a slave, it provided them with power and esteem in society. In one simple act, men could “[buy] their way into full participation in the political economy… and white masculinity”. In owning another person, one instantaneously garnered the respect of the dominant master class. During this time period, when “appearances and reputation mattered above all else,” this immediate effect of purchasing another person was too tempting to turn down. 

     Men may have experienced the greatest transformation from slaveholding, but women also significantly benefitted from the practice. A woman’s status was decided by her daily activities. If a lady was working in the fields alongside her husband and a few slaves, she lacked the wealth that would result in her relaxation and refinement. Higher class women lived a life of “leisure and gentility… [that was] produced by slaves”. Only when a white woman’s husband procured enough slaves to relieve the wife of any kind of physical labor, was the woman considered to be of the elite, master class. The desire, then, for more slaves became unquenchable because “more slaves provided access to ever more rarified possibilities of feminine delicacy for the white women”. Mistresses constantly wanted more slaves to take care of domestic chores and leave her to practice more sophisticated hobbies. Ultimately the possession of slaves could escalate both men and women’s rank in society. 

     Thinking that increased wealth and respect inevitably followed slavery, white Southerners characterized the institution as an ideal way to attain happiness. Many nonslaveholders throughly believed that if they could just save enough money to buy a slave, they would automatically gain a sense of satisfaction. Johnson states that “the possibility that they might one day own slaves was one of the things that kept nonslaveholders loyal to the slaveholders’ democracy”. People assumed that their idealized version of slavery was real and that they would be blissfully happy with their laborers. White men placed a lot of hope in the institution to positively transform their lives. When men did become slaveholders, they quickly realized that their idealized version of slavery was utterly false. This disappointment results from the whites’ misguided theory “that other people existed to satisfy their desires”. 

     Whites’ dependence on the slaves for successful transformations seems to be an apparent contradiction. Southerners completely relied on their slaves to submit to their wishes. Slaves, however, were in fact human beings. They had the ability to act in defiance of their masters’ orders. Therefore, slaveowners “daily gambled their own fantasies of freedom on the behavior of people whom they could never fully commodify”. With any acts of resistance, a slave could instantly diminish their positive transformative effects on the master. Consequently, the lasting effects of transformation were in a tenuous position due to “the intimacy of [masters’] dependence upon their slaves”. Because “slaves were at the same time both objects and subjects, human property held for the purpose of enriching the masters and individuals with lives of their own,” it became harder and harder for white men to reap the benefits of slavery. Nevertheless, the possible transformations provided by the institution still proved to be too appealing for slaveholders to pass up. 

     Peter Kolchin makes the argument that the Antebellum South’s “most important relationship was that between master and slave”. The whole Southern region of the country was so devoted to slavery and its envisioned benefits that “few areas of life there escaped the touch of the peculiar institution”. Unable to cope with the idea of losing the foundation of their society, Southerners became evermore committed to slavery. Their complete reliance on slavery and its transformative effects caused the people of the South to cling to institution even to the point of secession. Ultimately, this extreme dependence affected the entire nation by leading to the largest internal conflict in American history.

Nick Parinella- Reaction Paper 3

Nick Parinella

History 205

Professor McKinney

November 13, 2014

 

The Slave Market; Wanted by Masters, Dreaded by Slaves

 

            It is pretty well-known that slavery was more prominent in the south, however, it was still a factor throughout the whole nation. Since slavery was happening during the expansion of the United States, slaves were transported and traded all across the country. Being a slave was already difficult enough, but the slave trade and market made it much tougher for them. When people are put in difficult situations, the only thing to do is to make the best out of one’s scenario. Even with the grueling work and pain slaves were put through, they still had things that made their lives worth living. The slave trade within the United States took away a lot of the positive things slaves lived for and therefore, made their lives more challenging. Slaves would have children and start families, but the slave trade would take that away from them. Sometimes they would be sold to stricter and more violent owners. They would then have to do jobs that they had never done before and get punished for not knowing how to do them. Slaves sometimes escaped, but through certain laws, owners had the right to get their slaves back. The slave trade within the United States made life more painful than it already was for slaves.

 

            Slavery was important in America, especially in the 1800’s. Slaves had been in the country for hundreds of years and there were generations of slaves that were continuously born into slavery. At this time, slaves had adapted somewhat to the their lives since it was all they had known compared to when the slaves were first brought over from Africa. When slaves were first brought over, they were taken away from their loved ones and forced to work for strangers[i]. Over time, they began families and grew up learning the ways to live and act under their masters. However, the slave market was very active during the 1800’s, and it affected slaves in a very negative way.

           

Even though slaves were treated like property, they still had lives of their own. They got married, began families and had children with each other. Through the slave trade, many families were broken up. For most people, family is one of the most important things in life, and “the ultimate and most dreaded form of interference in slave family life was the forced separation of family members.”[ii] Many people live their lives for their loved ones and having that taken away would be a tragedy. Slaves were already forced to perform grueling tasks, but now they had one of the few things that made them happy taken away. This separation was one of the most devastating things a slave could experience.[iii] If this was not difficult enough on the slaves, they still had to endure other complications with being sold.

           

Another reason why slaves dreaded the slave trade was because they could be sold to more vicious masters. Some slave owners had reputations as breakers, and they would destroy the spirits of slaves.[iv] This type of treatment can lead to the mental breakdown of slaves and end any thoughts of hope they had. It makes life hard to live when one is constantly threatened and treated as if they are worthless. It can also result in physical harm to the slave as well. A specific example is when Robert Moore, a slave owner, bought a slave to tame him after he was splashed by a carriage the slave was driving. Moore then proceeded to chain and beat him until his limbs hung limp.[v] Moore had no use for the slave after that, but he purchased him for the sole purpose of beating him to exert his power. Slaves had to live in fear of being sold to breakers because they were bought to help the masters gain a reputation rather than to provide labor. The physical and mental harm a slave would receive was detrimental to their well-being. After being owned by a breaker, if they survive, it could lead to a more negative outlook on life. Another difficulty with the slave trade was that slaves were forced to perform tasks for their new master that they had never done before. They would then be beaten for not knowing how to do them. Just like for any human being, it is difficult to perform jobs that one has never been taught. It was unfair to the slaves that they would be punished for not knowing how to do something that they had never done before. It seems to be common sense that someone is not going to be able to perform a job without any previous training, but the masters did not care. The slaves would also be beaten if they were sick or resistant because they were not “living up to the expectations that had been attached to them in the slave market.”[vi] It was not the slaves’ choice to be sold, but they were beaten anyway for the slave owners’ decision. The buyers examined the slaves and knew their conditions before purchasing them, but still beat them for being sick or unskilled when it was not the slaves fault. After being sold, slaves had to suffer from beatings by their new masters for things they had little or no control over.     

           

            The thought or action of being sold made many slaves attempt to escape. They knew that if they were caught that the consequences would be severe and painful, but they risked it anyway. They were so distraught with being sold that they would jeopardize their personal health and safety for a chance to be free. When slaves found out that they were going to be sold and separated from their family, some ran away because they had nothing left to lose.[vii] However, even if a slave escaped successfully, it did not mean that he or she was free. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 required that escaped slaves had to be returned to their owners when captured and all citizens, including those in Free states, had to cooperate. This law allowed slave owners to capture their run-away slaves regardless of where they were in the country. It also created more problems because slave owners did not need much of a description or proof to claim that someone was their slave. People would falsely claim that a random black person in the north was their slave when they were actually not. Free black people would sometimes be sold into slavery through this tactic. In order for the black person to prove that they were a free person and not a slave, they would need other people to testify that they were telling the truth. This was difficult during this time because other black people were usually too scared to say anything and white people typically did not have close relationships with blacks. Therefore, it was not often that people testified for the free blacks that were kidnapped, and people would sell them in the slave market to make some easy money.

 

            The slave market was very useful for slave owners, but it was dreaded by slaves. The slave trade within the United States made life harder than it already was for the slaves. The slave trade destroyed families and tore parents and children apart. The slaves were sometimes sold to violent masters who would find any excuse to beat them. Slaves often ran away because they would rather face the harsh punishments of being caught than to be sold. The slave market brought more challenges, pain, and problems into slaves’ lives than they already had before.

Schaefer-Flake Reaction Paper #3

Kelly Schaefer-Flake

Reaction Paper #3

11/12/14

History 205- Slavery in the United States

Schkk-16@rhodes.edu

 

While vast plantations filled with content slaves and benevolent masters characterize much of our image of slavery in the antebellum South, they provide a rather one-sided and inaccurate depiction of the complex institution. Within the antebellum South, there existed a dichotomy between the master narrative of the institution and the narrative of those being crushed by it. At its core, slavery in the American South was characterized by tension. Tensions existed in every aspect of Southern life; they existed between masters and slaves, between the lower class and the master class, and ultimately, between the north and the South. Although different in approach, Peter Kolchin’s American Slavery, Walter Johnson’s Soul by Soul, and Stephanie Camp’s The Pleasures of Resistance all provide insight into the power-related tensions that simmered beneath the surface of the American South.

Slavery pervaded every aspect of human life in the South, with its effects reaching far beyond Southern borders. Despite the fact that vast cotton plantations were not the norm, slavery was still the dominant economic force within Southern society. For individuals who did not own slaves, daily life was still greatly affected by the institution. Although most white individuals in the South were not slave owners, little was done to stop the perpetuation of slavery[1].  In fact, many nonslaveholding whites helped to facilitate slave sales and the slave trade because of the hope that it held for them. For them, the slave market represented opportunity and slaves represented power[2]. However, where some saw slavery as a tool for social mobility others saw increased social and political stratification[3]. In many instances, the relationship between the lower classes and the master class was one that was frequently filled with tension. Although slaveholders were in the minority, their desires were treated as majority desires.  Consequently, individuals who did not own slaves were forced to exist in a society where politics were dominated by the slaveholders[4]. The political sphere in the South was dedicated to preserving the institution of slavery. While nonslaveholders were often not dedicated to abolition for moral reasons, many of them recognized that their positions in society were doomed to suppression by the master class while the institution continued to exist.

Tensions also emerged when the slaveholding South was confronted with Northern notions of abolition. Because American slavery was such a complete and all-encompassing institution, any threat to that institution was seen as a threat to the Southern way of life. In Soul by Soul, Johnson provides interesting insight into how those tensions grew and why slavery became essential to the Southern identity. According to Johnson, many slaveholders had a strongly paternalistic self image[5]. While slaveholders certainly viewed their slaves as property, many also saw them as beings that needed protection. Slaves were fed, clothed, and housed by their masters. Masters and slaves lived their lives side by side. As a result, the end of the institution would mean the end of much more than just the economic aspect. For many Southerners, the loss of slavery was equivalent to a loss of a way of life[6]. Southerners’ attachment to the institution partially explained their severe reaction to northern desires for abolition. As Peter Kolchin suggests, “the defense of slavery became tantamount to defense of the South”[7]. Ultimately, these tensions between the North and the South would come to a head in the form of the Civil War.

Though tensions within the American South were abundant, the most severe tensions existed between slaves and their masters. The relationship between master and slave was the most essential relationship in the South[8].  Ultimately, that essential relationship was based on a struggle for power. Masters depended on their slaves because their slaves were necessary for their economic security. As a result, slaveholders used any means necessary to ensure that their slaves were productive. Yet, slaves continually found ways to rebel against the fear that their masters attempted to instill in them. In order to combat the physical harshness of the institution, slaves held social gatherings where a sense of community and self-preservation developed. According to Kolchin,

Masters never achieved the total domination they sought over their slaves...the slaves managed to develop their own semi-autonomous way of life, to interact with one another on a basis that reflected shared values and customs. Slaves at work were closely regulated, but away from work they lived and loved and played, in a world largely unknown to the masters[9].

During the day, slaves were at the mercy of their masters. During the evenings, slaves commanded control over their bodies and used them as forms of expression[10]. However, although slaves were frequently successfully in creating communities in order to achieve a sense of autonomy, many slaveholders learned to exploit those community ties[11]. Faced with the constant threat of sale, the relationships meant to be sources of refuge became sources of fear and weakness[12]. Therefore, in the American South, power and domination were always in flux.

            The antebellum South was a society filled with competing tensions. Because slavery was a source of economic and social order, any possible disruption created fear and demanded swift action. For those who did not own slaves, slavery was both a source of despair and hope. For those who held slaves, life depended on the continuation of slavery. Any attempt to bring the institution to an end was nothing more than an attack on the Southern way of life. For the individuals living as slaves, the institution represented oppression and domination. Survival, consequently, was sought through secret rebellions and family life. Before all of these tensions could come to a head, they first had to simmer beneath the surface of the American South.

---

[1] Peter Kolchin. American Slavery, 1619-1877. (New York: Hill and Wang 1993), 179.

[2] Walter Johnson. Soul by Soul: Life inside the Antebellum Slave Market. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press 1999), 80.

[3] Charles McKinney, “Life in the Shadow of the Market” (lecture, Rhodes College, November 4, 2014)

[4] Peter Kolchin. American Slavery, 1619-1877. (New York: Hill and Wang 1993), 179.

[5] Walter Johnson. Soul by Soul: Life inside the Antebellum Slave Market. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press 1999) 198.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Peter Kolchin. . American Slavery, 1619-1877. (New York: Hill and Wang 1993), 181.

[8] Charles McKinney, “The White South” (lecture, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, November 6, 2014).

[9] Peter Kolchin. . American Slavery, 1619-1877. (New York: Hill and Wang 1993), 133.

[10] Stephanie M. H. Camp, “The Pleasures of Resistance: Enslaved Women and Body Politics in the Plantation South, 1830-1861,” The Journal of Southern History 68 (2002): 540.

[11] Walter Johnson. Soul by Soul: Life inside the Antebellum Slave Market. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press 1999) 23.

[12] Walter Johnson. Soul by Soul: Life inside the Antebellum Slave Market. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press 1999) 22.

Casey Joseph- Discussion Paper 3

Casey Joseph

Professor McKinney

Discussion Paper 3

November 13, 2014

The domestic slave trade was a unique institution with endless entry by white males striving to reach the American dream of the Antebellum South. This dream consisted of creating a living by buying slaves and therefore, creating profit through field or skilled labor, or both. The domestic slave trade can be compared to the stock market, in which black slaves were bought and sold by dealers or traders for more or less than what the slave was worth, much like stocks. With this being true, one would understand that the seller of the stock would advertise it to the best of his ability, even if this information were crafted dishonestly. Sellers of the stock would falsify information to gather more attention in hopes of obtaining a higher price. This is exactly what took place in the slave pens, except for one minor difference. Stocks are goods and cannot change their position because stocks have no voice in their own value. However, slaves played a huge role in the domestic slave trade, both positively and negatively through their outlook for eventual freedom. 

The domestic slave trade included more than one million slaves that were bought and sold in the nineteenth century. Many of the traders were white men trying to capture the American dream. Some of the traders had other professions but understood the upside of the trading institution. Full-time traders were professionals in the business, often with many boats and depots throughout the south and along the Mississippi. These traders usually had their own sellers in the North and buyers in the South. Buying slaves was not the only way that traders gained merchandise. Traders would also kidnap free blacks from the North and ship them southwest to be sold in the slave pens. “Eulalie had been living as free for decades when she, her six children, and ten grandchildren were taken by force from their home in Pointe Coupee, Louisiana, sold at auction in New Orleans, and then placed in a slave pen for safe keeping.” ¹. Even though Eulalie had been free for twenty years, no black was completely free during the nineteenth century. People would argue that the laws were on their side if they had white friends, but sometimes the traders would create new identities for the kidnapped. The kidnapped were sometimes pulled in with lies (ex. telling free men they are needed in Washington, and then kidnapping them) or even drugged by the traders. Whites gave blacks no other option when it came to whether the slave would be sold or not. When these slaves were bought or kidnapped, they were forced to take their lives southwest to their new home.

Blacks up for sale were terrified of the unknown once sold. “Sale of any sort was one of the most dreaded events in the life of a slave, but sale to the southwest meant being permanently separated from home, friends, and often environment” ². The journeys to their owner’s land and the slave pens/auctions were often long and physically taxing. “The inland journey could take as long as seven or eight weeks on foot, with the slaves covering about twenty miles a day. Shipboard around the coast from Norfolk to New Orleans the trip required only about three weeks” ³. Slaves on this journey were chained two-by-two, wrist-to-wrist, and ankle-to-ankle. The bigger traders would have yards throughout the trail where the traders would pay to stay overnight with their slaves. The seasonality of the trading institution was important to any trader. In the lower South, for example, slaves could not be purchased until after harvest since this is when buyers had the most money. “The traders coffles became part of the landscape of the Antebellum South, especially in the late summer and early fall” ⁴. Where these coffles were headed was just as unknown to the slaves as their trip across the Atlantic. They knew that they would be asked to work, but where and how?

The life of a trader took an interesting turn when arriving to their final destination. Traders brought their slaves into the auctions and slave pens, splitting them up by gender, and placing them against the walls. “In the daily practice of the slave pens, slaves were treated as physical manifestations of the categories the traders used to select their slaves - No. 1, Second Rate, and so no” ⁵. Buyers would proceed in, and would rub the slave’s bodies down assessing all joints and also by checking teeth and facial features. “Inexperienced buyers would be hurt by the results because they could not see everything. A good slave buyer would look past the fancy clothes, bright faces, and promising futures” ⁶. They have already been commodified, but the process did not end after the Atlantic slave trade. Again, slaves were priced for their attributes and health. “Thus could say slave trader David Wise testify to the value of a human eye: “Being asked if the girl had a filter on her eye if it would impair her value, he says it would impair it’s value from $25 to $40” ⁷. David Wise’s use of the word ‘it’s’ shows the commodification process used in the slave pens. The female slave was no longer a person, but strictly a price given by the buyer. The seller of this girl lost profit from his venture, because of a filtered eye. What would be the response to this type of ordeal in the slave pen by the seller?

In order for the seller to get the best price possible, he would have to manufacture an intricate story for the injury, while convincing the slave to follow through with the lie. The sellers would pitch their slaves to buyers by spinning a detailed fantasy out of a list of supposed skills, “Sarah, a muleteers, aged 45 years, a good cook and accustomed to housework in general, is an excellent and faithful nurse” ⁸. “The daily business of the slave pens, of course, was manipulating buyers. All of the feeding, clothing, caring for, and preparing had that single goal in mind, and slaves in the market were carefully instructed about how to present themselves to buyers- about what would sell and what would not” ⁹. Traders told their slaves that if they were indeed submissive and caused no issues with the trader, the trader would find the slave a nice owner. Knowing this was false, the slaves took things into their own hands and played a colossal role in their life outside of the slave pen and their eventual freedom. 

The buyers would come into the slave pen looking at the slaves’ physical attributes. Some physical impediments could not be hidden, and therefore some were ruled out in the beginning. After the physical examination concluded, questions were directed towards the slaves regarding their skills and attitude. Buyers would carefully distinguish “between what he saw for himself, what the trader had told him, and what he had heard from the slave” ¹⁰. The slaves began to have a voice in their destiny with the questions presented by the buyers. Being able to read the buyer was the strongest attribute used by slaves in the pens. “John Brown said, ‘I was careful, however, to draw out the buyers, in order to learn what they wanted me for; which i judged by the questions they put to me’” ¹¹. When the slaves sensed trouble in buyers, they would quickly answer questions in ways that would turn the buyers away. With this advantage, slaves could keep families together by convincing the buyer that they were loyal and would put forth great effort. “Bibb wrote, ‘When I approached him, I felt much pleased at his eternal appearance…’ He told the man that he was married to a women in the pen and she was also for sale” ¹². Bibb would then tell a couple of lies about him being illiterate and that he had runaway only once. He would be purchased by the buyer with his wife and was taken to his new home. It may have felt like a personal win, but in reality, they were still slaves. This reality hit quick when returning to labor. Slaves would lie in the slave pens (to find the most gracious buyer) about the work they could do, but then face the actual task later. “One morning… Epps appeared at the cabin door and, presenting me a sack, ordered me into the cotton field. At this time I had no experience whatever in cotton picking… When the scale determined its weight to be only 95 pounds, not half the quantity required of the poorest picker, Epps threatened the severest flogging” ¹³. Slaves may have determined their own fate in the auction house and slave pen, but faced the same realities that many of them had even before being sold in the first place. 

In conclusion, the slaves determined their own fate in the slave pen by reversing the judgment and realizing their position. For many slaves, this is their first opportunity to challenge authority and steer their course until the next time they are sold or potentially obtaining freedom.  Slaves humanized themselves by acting on their free will and being able to make sense of their own opportunities. Slaves had an immense role in the domestic slave trade, both positively and negatively through their outlook for consequential freedom.