Fearful Practices: The Disruption of African American Families by Slave Trade During the Second Middle Passage.
Fearful Practices: The Disruption of African American Families by Slave Trade During the Second Middle Passage. J.M. Rogers . . . On the afternoon of “Monday, September 22 nd , 1852,” an estate sale was held at the Savannah, Georgia fairgrounds. This sale, which listed “negroes and stock” in “Prime Lot,” was advertised by way of a flier, which included the date, time, location, and an itemized display of Luther McGowan’s personal property. The prevailing hegemony of the South’s “peculiar institution” made such sales a commonality in slave-holding states, as African Americans had virtually no rights, neither to marry nor to family. [1] By reducing the humanity of slaves to the level of livestock, the practice of human trafficking, family disruption, and inhumane treatment expanded in the Southern United States, condemning African American slaves to lives of harsh labor, brutal punishment, and constant fear of familial separat...