They were once America's cruelest, richest slave traders. Why does no one know their names?

[appalachiablue]

19. Importing slaves from Africa was banned in 1808 but internal

Last edited Sun Sep 15, 2019, 05:50 PM - Edit history (2)

transporting of slaves- purchased or stolen- eg 'slave trading' took place from the early 1800s to the Civil War.

The Alexandria slave dealer 'Birch' was notorious and the head partner. His name was mentioned in the writings of Solomon Northup, the free black man who was kidnapped in 1841 from NY state, taken to DC and then shipped to New Orleans, 'sold South' in 1841 to labor on Louisiana plantations. The true story is portrayed in the movie, "12 Years A Slave" (2012).

By the 1830s, the invention and development of the cotton gin (1794) had revolutionized the cotton industry and increased demand for cotton production, machines, mills and industrial and agricultural workers.
Enslaved workers were sought to grow the crop on plantations in regions of the newer Louisiana Purchase- Deep South states Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. In the 'Upper South' where centuries of tobacco production was declining because of wear on the soil, large planters in Va., Md. and Ky. often sold their slaves 'down the (Mississippi) river' into bondage in the 'Deep South.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_gin

In the early 1800s after the1808 import ban on slaves, the kidnapping of free blacks also took place to 'meet the demand' for more plantation labor in the Lower South. One case was in the border area of 'Eastern Shore'/ Southern Del. and Md.- both slave states before the Civil War. There a notorious gang, the Cannon-Johnson group comprised of 50-60 locals and criminals kidnapped free and slave black children, young adults and runaways from rural areas, small towns and large cities such as Baltimore, Philadelphia, Dover and Washington. They sold their captives to slave traders or took them south to sell, by land or sea. (See posts #15, 16, 8) http://usslave.blogspot.com/2012/05/slave-kidnapping-marker-on-maryland.html https://www.capegazette.com/article/sussex-county-serial-killer/159135

"12 Years A Slave" (2012). The true story of freeman Solomon Northup who was kidnapped from NY state in 1841, taken to Wash. DC where he was held in a slave pen/prison and then shipped south by boat to New Orleans.