List of American slave traders

This article contains dynamic lists that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
When the Union Army entered Savannah, Georgia during the American Civil War, they occupied what is now called the John Montmollin Building; it had a large sign that read "A. Bryan's Negro Mart" and was described as having "handcuffs, whips, and staples for tying, etc. Bills of sale of slaves by hundreds, and letters, all giving faithful description of the hellish business." The building became one of two schools for children of freedmen that were opened January 10, 1865. The schools had 500 students, and were operated by the Savannah Educational Association, which was "supported entirely by the freedmen, [and] collected and expended $900 for educational purposes in its first year of operation."

This is a list of American slave traders, people whose occupation or business was the slave trade in the United States, i.e. the buying and selling of human chattel as commodities, primarily African-American people in the Southern United States, from the declaration of independence in 1776 until the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865. People who dealt in enslaved indigenous persons, such as was the case with slavery in California, would also be included. This list represents a fraction of the "many hundreds of participants in a cruel and omnipresent" American market.

The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves was passed in 1808 under the so-called Star-Spangled Banner flag, when there were 15 states in the Union. The last slave auction in the rebel states was held in 1865. In the intervening years, the politics surrounding the addition of 20 new states to the Union had been almost overwhelmingly dominated by whether or not those states would have legal slavery. Slavery was widespread, so slave trading was widespread, and "When a planter died, failed in business, divided his estate, needed ready money to satisfy a mortgage or pay a gambling debt, or desired to get rid of an unruly Negro, traders struck a profitable bargain." A slave trader might have described himself as a broker, auctioneer, general agent, or commission merchant, and often sold real estate, personal property, and livestock in addition to enslaved people. Many large trading firms also had field agents, whose job it was to go to more remote towns and rural areas, buying up enslaved people for resale elsewhere. Countless enslaved people were also sold at courthouse auctions by county sheriffs and U.S. marshals to satisfy court judgments and settle estates; individuals involved in those sales are not the primary focus of this list.

Note: Research by Michael Tadman has found that "'core' sources provide only a basic skeleton of a much more substantial trade" in enslaved people throughout the South, with particular deficits in records of rural slave trading, already wealthy people who speculated to grow their wealth further, and in all private sales that occurred outside auction houses and negro marts.

"Slave Trader, Sold to Tennessee" depicting a coffle from Virginia in 1850 (Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum)
Poindexter & Little, like many interstate slave-trading firms, had a buy-side in the upper south and a sell-side in the lower south (Southern Confederacy, January 12, 1862, page 1, via Digital Library of Georgia)
Slave trading was legal in the 15 so-called slave states (listed in order of admission to the Union): Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas (Reynolds's 1856 Political Map of the United States, depicting Missouri Compromise line, et al., Library of Congress Geography and Map Division)
Lyrics to a "singularly wild and plaintive air" about the interstate slave trade, recorded in "Letter XI. The Interior of South Carolina. A Corn-Shucking. Barnwell District, South Carolina, March 29, 1843" in William Cullen Bryant's Letters from a Traveler, reprinted in The Ottawa Free Trader, Ottawa, Illinois, November 8, 1856

List is organized by surname of trader, or name of firm, where principals have not been further identified.

Note: Charleston and Charles Town, Virginia are distinct places that later became Charleston, West Virginia, and Charles Town, West Virginia, respectively, and neither is to be confused with Charleston, South Carolina.

A–C

  • Anderson D. Abraham, Buckingham Co., Va.
  • Robert S. Adams, Aberdeen, Miss.
  • Adkin & Boikin, Virginia
  • Thomas Alexander, Charleston, S.C.
  • Dr. James Alston, North Carolina
  • Samuel Alsop, Fredericksburg
  • John Armfield
  • John W. Anderson, Mason Co., Ky. and Natchez
  • James Andrews, New Orleans
  • Henry Andrius, New Orleans
  • George W. Apperson
  • Francis Arnolds, Carolinas
  • Jordan Arterburn and Tarlton Arterburn, Louisville, Ky. and Vicksburg and Natchez, Miss.
  • Britton Atkins, Blountsville and Montgomery, Ala.
  • Lewis L. Austin
  • Robert Austin, Charleston, S.C.
  • David Avery, Alabama
  • A. K. Ayer, Columbus, Ga.
  • J. Russell Baker, Charleston, S.C.
  • William K. Bagby, Atlanta, Ga.
  • Rice C. Ballard, Richmond
  • William Ballard
  • Richard Balton or Bolton
  • Barnard & Howard, Montgomery, Ala.
  • Reuben Bartlett, St. Louis, Mo. and Nashville
  • Bates, Virginia and Mobile, Ala.
  • Kinchen Battoe, Kentucky
  • George Richard Beard
  • J. A. Beard & May, New Orleans
  • Joseph A. Beard
  • Richard Renard Beasley
  • William Beck, Glasgow, Ky.
  • George W. Behn
  • Samuel Bennett, Natchez
  • Bennett & Rhett, Charleston, S.C.
  • William Betts, Richmond
  • Betts & Gregory, Richmond
  • Beverly
  • James H. Birch, District of Columbia and Alexandria, Va.
  • Richard Chambers Bishop
  • C. J. Blackman, Yazoo City, Miss.
  • James G. Blakey
  • Joseph G. Blakey
  • Blakely, Virginia
  • J. W. Boazman, New Orleans
  • Bolton, Dickens & Co.
  • Thomas Boudar, New Orleans
  • J. E. Bowers, Charleston, S.C.
  • Robert Boyce
  • Boyce, Hamburg and Charleston, S.C.
  • William L. Boyd Jr., Nashville
  • C. C. Bragg, Charles Town, Va.
  • Robert B. Brashear, Salem, Va.
  • Richard Brenan
  • Thack Brodnax
  • S. N. Brown & Co., Montgomery, Ala.
  • Brown & Taylor, Vicksburg, Miss.
  • Brown & Watson, Montgomery, Ala.
  • Browning, Moore & Co., Richmond
  • Joseph Bruin, Alexandria, Va.
  • Alexander Bryan, Savannah
  • S. E. Buford, Jefferson City, La.
  • Zachariah Bugg
  • Joseph Caldwell, Virginia
  • Charles Carson & Smith, Burke Co., N.C. and New Orleans
  • William Cavendish, New Orleans
  • Bernard M. Campbell and Walter L. Campbell, Baltimore and New Orleans, and relations
  • Capers & Heyward, Charleston, S.C.
  • John Carter and Jesse Carter, Virginia
  • Leon Chabert
  • Col. Benjamin Chambers, Baltimore
  • John W. Chrisp, Memphis
  • John Clark, Louisville, Ky.
  • Robert M. Clarke, Atlanta, Ga.
  • James G. Cobb, Alexandria, Va.
  • John Cocks, Point Coupee, La.
  • Joseph Coffman
  • Solomon Cohen, Atlanta, Ga.
  • Edward Collier
  • Asa Collins, Lexington, Ky.
  • A. B. Colwell, Lexington, Ky.
  • Mr. Cooper, Kentucky
  • Richard Cooper
  • Cotton & Wakefield
  • Crawford, Frazer & Co., Atlanta, Ga., principals Robert Crawford, Addison D. Frazer, and Thomas Lafayette Frazer
  • Elihu Creswell, New Orleans
  • William Crow, Charles Town, Va.
  • Seraphin Cuculla

D–G

Antebellum city directories from slave states are valuable primary sources on the trade: Slave dealers listed in the 1855 directory of Memphis, Tennessee, included Bolton & Dickens, Nathan Bedford Forrest and Josiah Maples operating at 87 Adams as Forrest & Maples, Neville & Cunningham, and Byrd Hill
Slave dealers listed in the 1861 directory of New Orleans, Louisiana, including Walter L. Campbell, R. H. Elam, Poindexter & Little, and J. M. Wilson
Slave dealers listed in the 1861 Louisville, Kentucky, city directory, including Tarleton and Jordan Arterburn
  • William C. Dawson, Savannah
  • Mark Davis and Benjamin Davis, Richmond and New Orleans
  • Hector Davis, Richmond
  • W. C. Davis, Louisville, Ky.
  • Davis, Dupree & Co., Richmond
  • Anderson Delap, Nelson Delap, and Norman Delap, Memphis
  • John N. Denning, Baltimore
  • Charles de Gaalon
  • Louis D. DeSaussure, Charleston
  • Dickinson & Hill, Virginia
  • Richard H. Dickinson, Richmond
  • C. W. Diggs
  • James B. Diggs
  • Joseph S. Donovan, Baltimore
  • James Dowell, Virginia
  • Downing & Hughes, Kentucky
  • Dryer
  • James Dunahow
  • Dyer family, District of Columbia
  • Eaton, New Orleans
  • Benjamin C. Eaton
  • Simeon G. Eddins and brothers, Fayetteville, Tenn.
  • Alexander N. Edmonds, Memphis
  • R. H. Elam, New Orleans and Forks of the Road, Natchez, Miss.
  • Henry Fairbanks, Baltimore
  • Ben Farley, New Orleans
  • James L. Ficklin, Charleston, Va.
  • Obadiah Fields, North Carolina
  • Fields & Gresham, Atlanta, Ga.
  • Hugh Fisher, Louisiana
  • David Fitzpatrick, Vicksburg, Miss.
  • Nathan Bedford Forrest, John N. Forrest, Aaron H. Forrest, William H. Forrest, Jesse A. Forrest, and Jeffrey E. Forrest, Memphis, and Grenada and Vicksburg, Miss.
  • John D. Fondren, Mississippi
  • Ford, Kentucky and New Orleans
  • Thomas Foster, New Orleans
  • Isaac Franklin, New Orleans
  • James Rawlings Franklin
  • Theophilus Freeman, New Orleans
  • Mr. Fry, Delaware
  • Thomas Norman Gadsden, Charleston
  • Mr. Gaines (or Gains or Goins)
  • Lewis Garland, North Carolina
  • Matthew Garrison, Louisville, Ky.
  • J. C. Gentry, Louisville, Ky.
  • John M. Gilchrist, Charleston
  • Alexander Gilliam, Richmond
  • C. E. Girardey & Co., New Orleans
  • Thomas Golden, Fairfax, Va.
  • Gordan or Gordon, Maryland and Mississippi
  • Thomas Goude
  • Grady & Tate, Richmond, Va.
  • James Grant, New Orleans
  • William Green
  • Griffin & Pullum, Natchez, Miss., principals Pierce Griffin, W. A. Pullum, A. Blackwell, F. G. Murphy
  • Lewis K. Grigsby, Natchez
  • Andrew Grimm

H–L

Accounts of slave trading prior to 1830 are less common than accounts from 1830 to 1860, but this political column name-drops several: Eli Odom, Isaac Franklin, John L. Harris, Thomas Rowan, Gen. Woolfolk, Rice Ballard, John Armfield—all while perpetuating the long-running debate over whether or not U.S. President Andrew Jackson was a "negro trader" in the early 1800s ("Means Used to Elect Col. Bingaman" The Mississippi Free Trader, October 15, 1841)
Andrew Jackson's business model and actions as part of Coleman Green & Jackson met the definition of "slave trader" as understood by abolitionists, but as a campaign issue it fell flat, according to historian Robert Gudmestad, in part because "Southerners wanted to believe that there was a small group of itinerant traders who created most of the difficulties. It was this type of speculator, most thought, who destroyed slave families, escorted coffles, sold diseased slaves, and concealed the flaws of bondservants. They were the 'slave-dealers.' All others who bought or sold slaves, even if they did so on a full-time basis, were innocent." (1828 publication, Miscellaneous Pamphlet Collection, Library of Congress)
  • John Hagan and family, South Carolina and New Orleans
  • Henry C. Halcomb, Atlanta, Ga.
  • Frederick Hall, Mobile, Ala.
  • Thomas Hanly, Halifax Co., Va.
  • Benjamin Hansford, Natchez
  • James B. Hargrove, E. P. Aistrop, & N. A. Mitchell, Lynchburg, Va.
  • William Harker, Baltimore and Dorchester, Md.
  • Harris, Virginia
  • George Harris, Georgia
  • John F. Harris, Natchez
  • O. C. and S. Y. Harris, Upper Marlboro, Md.
  • Charles S. Harrison, Columbus, Ga.
  • Mason Harwell, Montgomery, Ala.
  • C. F. Hatcher, New Orleans
  • E. S. Hawkins, Nashville
  • John Hawkins, Virginia & Robert Hawkins, Mississippi
  • William Hawkins
  • H. H. Haynes, Nashville
  • W. H. Henderson, Atlanta, Ga.
  • W. C. Hewitt, Macon, Ga.
  • Hewlett & Bright, New Orleans
  • Byrd Hill, Memphis & William C. Hill, Memphis
  • Nathaniel Boush Hill and Charles B. Hill, Richmond
  • Hill & Hartwell, Montgomery, Ala.
  • Hill & Powell, Memphis
  • G. H. Hitchings, Nashville
  • Edward Home, Alexandria, Va.
  • James Huie & Robert Huie
  • Thomas Hundley, Halifax Co. Va. and New Orleans
  • Tillman Hunt
  • William Hunt
  • Inman, Cole & Co., Atlanta, Ga.
  • Barnabas Ivy, Duplin Co., N.C.
  • Waddy I. Jackson, Alabama
  • John D. James, Natchez, Miss.
  • Thomas James
  • Thomas D. James, Natchez, Miss.
  • Thomas G. James, Nashville
  • Isaac Jarratt
  • William Jenkins, Nashville
  • Thomas J. Jennings & Co., Hamburg, S.C.
  • James Jervey, Charleston
  • Joseph Johnson, Ebenezer Johnson & Patty Cannon, Northwest Fork Hundred, Delaware
  • William Johnson, St. Louis, Mo.
  • Theodore Johnston, New Orleans
  • Leroy Jones, Alexandria, Va.
  • S. S. Jones, De Soto, Miss.
  • Jones & Robinson, Georgia
  • George T. Kausler, New Orleans
  • William H. Kelley, Louisville, Ky.
  • James Kemp
  • Bernard Kendig, New Orleans
  • Edward J. Kendrick
  • George Kephart, Maryland, Virginia, District of Columbia
  • Simon Kern, Richmond
  • Jesse Kirby and John Kirby, Virginia and Georgia
  • Moses Kirkpatrick, New Orleans
  • Charles Lamarque, New Orleans
  • Major Lane, New Orleans
  • Laferriere Levesque
  • Mr. Leake, Virginia
  • John W. Lindsey, Montgomery, Ala.
  • J. & L. T. Levin, Columbia, S.C.
  • A. Lilly, New Orleans
  • Benjamin Little, Montgomery Little, Chauncey Little & William Little, Memphis and Shelbyville, Tenn.
  • J. W. Lindsey, Montgomery, Ala.
  • Livingston, Hanna & Co., Vicksburg, Miss.
  • William Locket, New Orleans
  • E. Loftin, New Orleans
  • R. W. Long, New Orleans
  • R. W. Long & Mull
  • Lowe & Simmons, Columbus, Ga.
  • Robert Lumpkin, Richmond
  • Robert Lyle & George W. Hitching, Nashville and Sumner Co., Tenn.
  • Bernard M. Lynch, St. Louis

M, Mc

Frederic Bancroft noted that in many towns "the same man dealt in horses, mules and slaves. ("Yazoo City Livery Stable: Horses, Mules, Negroes, &c, &c. bought and sold on commission." The Yazoo Democrat, March 18, 1846)
  • Maddock, Tennessee
  • Maffitt, Mississippi
  • Mason & Howard, Montgomery, Ala.
  • W. B. Martin, New Orleans
  • Mathews, New Orleans
  • James G. Mathews, Louisville, Ky.
  • Thomas E. Matthews, New Orleans
  • Matthews, Branton & Co., Natchez, Miss.
  • John Mattingly, Louisville, Ky. and St. Louis, Mo.
  • A. B. McAfee, St. Louis, Mo.
  • McAfee & Blakey, St. Louis
  • J. A. McArthur, Clinton, N.C.
  • Michael McBride
  • Thomas McCargo
  • Mr. McClinton, Richmond
  • H. J. McDaniel, Winchester, Va.
  • Alexander McDonald and Hugh McDonald, Charleston
  • John McCleskey, Mobile, Ala.
  • Elijah McDowell, Charles Town, Va. and Winchester, Va.
  • William McGee
  • John M. McGehee & Thomas McGehee
  • A. A. McLean, Nashville
  • J. B. McLendon, Lynchburg, Va.
  • J. M. McKee, Girard, Ala.
  • James McMillin, Kentucky
  • Joseph Meek, Nashville
  • R. H. Melton, Louisiana
  • C. A. & I. S. Merrill, Mississippi
  • Merrimon & Clinkscales, Greenwood, S.C.
  • William H. Merritt, New Orleans
  • D. Middleton, New Orleans
  • James S. Moffett, Troy, Tenn.
  • John S. Montmollin, Savannah
  • Benjamin Mordecai
  • Peter Moore, Virginia
  • William Moore, Carolinas
  • Moore & Dawson, Richmond
  • J. F. Moses, Lumpkin, Ga.

N–S

Traders including Shadrack F. Slatter, Walter L. Campbell, Joseph Bruin, and J. M. Wilson all used this site at Esplanade and Chartres (previously Moreau) in New Orleans at various times
  • Mr. Nash, Caswell Co. or Rockingham Co., N.C.
  • Joseph W. Neal, District of Columbia
  • Isaac Neville, Memphis
  • James Nichols, Halifax Co., Va.
  • George Nixon, Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama
  • George N. Noel, Memphis
  • Ziba B. Oakes, Charleston
  • William Oldham, Natchez
  • Silas Omohundro, Richmond
  • Abraham Owens, Halifax Co., Va.
  • Benjamin Parks
  • James Parker, Dinwiddie Co., Va.
  • P. Pascal, Natchez
  • Paul Pascal
  • Everett Peterson, Clinton, N.C.
  • H. F. Peterson, New Orleans
  • Mr. Peterson, New Orleans
  • John Parker Pettiway, New Orleans
  • R.A. Peuyeur, Natchez
  • Isaac Phillips
  • G. B. Philippe
  • George I. Pitts, Columbus, Ga.
  • John J. Poindexter, New Orleans
  • Ephraim G. Ponder, Thomasville, Ga.
  • P. J. Porcher & Baya, Charleston (Philip Johnston Porcher & Hanero T. Baya)
  • Powell & Co., Montgomery, Ala.
  • A. S. C. Powell, Clinton, N.C.
  • Benjamin Ward Powell, Natchez, Miss. Louisville, Ky. and New Orleans
  • Luke Powell, Clinton, N.C.
  • Thomas Powell, Louisville, Ky. and Montgomery, Ala. and New Orleans
  • Price, Birch & Co., Alexandria, Va., principals J. C. Cook, C. M. Price, George Kephart, William H. Birch
  • John B. Prentis, Virginia
  • Pryor
  • William A. Pullum, Lexington, Ky.
  • D. M. Pullium, Richmond, Va.
  • James Franklin Purvis, Baltimore (and Isaac F. Purvis)
  • Alexander Puryear
  • R. C. Puryear
  • Alexander Putney, North Carolina and Mississippi
  • Bernard Raux, Virginia
  • R. D. P. Read, Lynchburg, Va.
  • Redford and Kelly, Kentucky
  • Zachariah A. Rice, Atlanta, Ga.
  • William H. Richards, Washington, D.C.
  • Alfred O. Robards, Kentucky
  • Lewis C. Robards, Lexington, Ky.
  • William H. Robertson, Mobile, Ala.
  • Robey, Washington, D.C.
  • John Robinson, Georgia
  • Richard Rolton
  • Col. Allen Rogers, Wake, N.C.
  • John S. Riggs, Charleston
  • David Ross, Louisville, Ky.
  • Rowan & Harris
  • George Rust Jr.
  • C. M. Rutherford, New Orleans
  • E. M. Rutherford
  • Thomas Ryan, Charleston
  • A. J. Salinas, Charleston
  • Sanders & Foster
  • Jourdan M. Saunders, Warrenton, Va.
  • A. C. Scott, Louisville, Ky.
  • David Scott
  • Lewis Scott, Baltimore
  • A. K. Seago, Atlanta, Ga.
  • Joseph Semmes, Georgetown, D.C.
  • J. M. F. Sharp, New Orleans
  • Lewis N. Shelton
  • Shivers, of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia
  • William Simpson, North Carolina
  • Henry F. Slatter, Baltimore and New Orleans
  • Hope H. Slatter, Baltimore
  • Shadrack F. Slatter, New Orleans
  • B. D. Smith, Atlanta, Ga.
  • John B. Smith, New Orleans
  • Thomas Jefferson Smith
  • David J. Southerland, Wilmington, N.C.
  • Samuel Spears
  • John Springs III, York District, S.C.
  • L. R. Starkes
  • John Staples, Memphis
  • Charles T. Stevens, Clinton, N.C.
  • John Stickney, Louisville, Ky.
  • Mr. Stokes, North Carolina and Mississippi
  • Samuel Stone, Danville, Va.
  • George Stovall, New Orleans
  • Pleasant Stovall, Augusta, Ga.
  • A. A. Saurez

T–Y

Eyre Crowe, "Slave sale, Charleston, S.C.," published in The Illustrated London News, Nov. 29, 1856: The flag tied to a post beside the steps reads "Auction This Day by Alonzo J. White"; in 1856, Alonzo J. White, along with fellow slave traders Louis D. DeSaussure and Ziba B. Oakes, opposed a new South Carolina law requiring that slave sales take place indoors rather than on the streets. Their argument was that the law was "an impolitic admission that would give 'strength to the opponents of slavery' and 'create among some portions of the community a doubt as to the moral right of slavery itself.'"
Boat landings at Memphis and Vicksburg c. 1913, perhaps not looking so different than they did when they were used as slave-trade hubs
  • Bacon Tait, Virginia
  • Tait & Garland, Virginia and Mississippi
  • William F. Talbott, Louisville, Ky.
  • Tannehill, New Orleans
  • Belthazer Tardy, Mobile, Ala.
  • H. & J. W. Taylor, Clinton, La.
  • J. T. Taylor, New Orleans
  • Philip Thomas
  • Corbin Thompson, St. Louis, Mo.
  • Mr. Thompson, Baltimore and the lands of the Cherokee nation
  • Todd
  • Clement Townsend
  • Thomas P. Trotter
  • N. C. Trowbridge, Augusta, Ga. & Hamburg, S.C.
  • Mr. Turner, Virginia
  • Urley, Mississippi
  • Wadkins, Virginia and Georgia
  • Benjamin W. Walker, Jackson, Miss.
  • Samuel Wakefield, Natchez
  • A. Wallace, Memphis
  • J. D. Ware, Memphis
  • Morton Waring, Charleston
  • William Watkins, Atlanta, Ga.
  • William T. Watkins
  • J. Watson, Louisville, Ky.
  • Richard Watson, Louisville, Ky. and New Orleans
  • Webb, Merrill & Co., Nashville
  • A. Weisemann, New Orleans
  • James Whidby
  • White, Lexington, Mo.
  • Alonzo J. White, Charleston
  • James White, New Orleans
  • John R. White, St. Louis and New Orleans
  • Maunsel White & Co., New Orleans
  • Joseph A. Whitaker, Rosehill, N.C.
  • Whitaker & Turner, Atlanta, Ga.
  • Moses J. Wicks, Aberdeen, Miss.
  • James P. Wilkinson
  • Lewis E. Williams, Campbell Co., Va.
  • Thomas Williams, Washington, D.C. and Vidalia, Miss.
  • Williams H. Williams
  • Williams, Washington, D.C.
  • Williams & Glover, Nashville
  • Williamson & Puryear, Montgomery, Ala.
  • James B. Williamson
  • William Williamson
  • J. M. Wilson, Baltimore and New Orleans
  • William Winbush, Virginia
  • Lewis Winters, Baltimore
  • D. Wise, New Orleans
  • William Witherspoon, Memphis
  • Seth Woodroof, Lynchburg, Va. 
  • Austin Woolfolk, Baltimore
  • John Woolfolk, Natchez, Miss.
  • Samuel Martin Woolfolk, New Orleans and Baltimore
  • Woolfolk
  • Woolfolks, Sanders & Overley (Richard Woolfolk, Robert Sanders, and Thomas W. Overley)
  • Mr. Wythe
  • Absolom Yancey
  • Mr. Yeatman, Virginia
  • Charles Young, New Orleans

It's old Van Horn, de nigger trader
                         Hilo! Hilo!
He sold his wife to buy a nigger
                         Hilo! Hilo!
He sold her first to Louisianner
                         Hilo! Hilo!
And den from dat to Alabammer
                         Hilo! Hilo!

— said to be a fragment of a much longer "negro corn-shucking song," also called a working song or field holler; published 1859

I never knew a slave-trader that did not seem to think, in his heart, that the trade was a bad one. I knew a great many of them, such as Neal, McAnn, Cobb, Stone, Pulliam, and Davis, &c. They were like Haley, they meant to repent when they got through.

— Letter of Lewis Hayden to Harriet Beecher Stowe

See also