At Skokie, Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, “Purchased Lives: The American Slave Trade from 1808 to 1865” is an exhibition that illuminates just how widespread the practice of slavery was in American life as well as its impact on enslaved families across the country.
During this period of domestic slavery, owners in the Upper South: Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington, DC sold and shipped surplus laborers to the expanding Lower South. For many enslaved people, their long and difficult journeys led them to New Orleans, the largest slave market in antebellum America. There they were treated as property, rather than human beings, often held in outdoor pens before being auctioned and scattered to points across Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
“The exhibition is powerful not only for the subject matter, but because of the incredible and rare artifacts that are included,” said Arielle Weininger, Chief Curator of Illinois Holocaust Museum. “In addition, the interactive ‘Lost Friends’ database helps the visitor understand that this is not a southern issue – its ramifications were felt throughout the country and are still evident today.”
Through interactive displays, this show allows visitors to engage directly with the historical record by tracking the shipment of more than 70,000 people to New Orleans. It showcases more than 75 original artifacts, including period paintings and first-person accounts from slave narratives and oral histories. The exhibit also includes a collection of “Lost Friends” ads placed after the Civil War by newly freed people attempting to locate family members specifically in Illinois.
For more information, see: www.ilholocaustmuseum.org or call 847.967.4800. The exhibit remains on view through August 25, 2019.