Document Text |
Summary |
| Daphney’s Baby | |
| The family of Primus, plantation carpenter, consisting of Daphney, his wife, with her young baby, and Dido, a girl of three years old, were reached in due course of time. Daphney had a large shawl, which she kept carefully wrapped round her infant and herself. This unusual proceeding attracted much attention, and provoked many remarks, such as these: | Next was Primus, a plantation carpenter. He was being sold with his wife Daphney, their three year old daughter, and their newborn baby. Daphney and the newborn were wrapped up in a large shawl. This was unusual, and the attendees made comments like: |
| “What do you keep your nigger covered up for? Pull off her blanket.”
“What’s the matter with the gal? Has she got a headache?” “What’s the fault of the gal? Ain’t she sound? Pull off her rags and let us see her.” “Who’s going to bid on that nigger, if you keep her covered up. Let’s see her face.” |
“Why is she covered up? Pull off her blanket”
“What’s the matter with her? Does she have a headache?” “What’s wrong with her? Isn’t she healthy? Pull off the shawl and let us see her.” “No one will bid on her if she is covered up. Show us her face.” |
| And a loud chorus of similar remarks, emphasized with profanity, and mingled with sayings too indecent and obscene to be even hinted at here, went up from the crowd of chivalrous Southern gentlemen. | Many more offensive things were said. Most were too awful to write here. All of this was said by Southern white men, who are supposed to be famous for their good breeding and manners. |
| At last the auctioneer obtained a hearing long enough to explain that there was no attempt to practice any deception in the case- the parties were not to be wronged in any way; he had no desire to palm off on them an inferior article; but the truth of the matter was the Daphney had been confined only fifteen days ago, and he thought that on that account she was entitled to the slight indulgence of a blanket, to keep from herself and child the chill air and the driving rain. | Finally, the auctioneer explained that Daphney had given birth only fifteen days ago. She was wearing the shawl to protect herself and her newborn baby from the bad weather. |
| Will your lady readers look at the circumstances of this case? The day was the 2d day of March. Daphney’s baby was born into the world on St. Valentine’s happy day, the 14th of February. | Ladies, think about this. The auction took place on March 2nd.The baby was born on February 14th. |
| Since her confinement, Daphney had traveled from the plantation to Savannah, where she had been kept in a shed for six days. On the sixth or seventh day after he sickness, she had left her bed, taken a railroad journey across the country to the shambles, was there exposed for six days to the questionings and insults of the negro spectators, and then on the fifteenth day after her confinement was put up on the book, with her husband and her other child, and, with her new-born baby in her arms, sold to the highest bidder. | After giving birth, Daphney was forced to travel from the plantation where she lived in Savannah. Then she was held in a shed for six days. Then she was forced to endure days of physical examinations and questioning by enslavers who were interested in buying her. Now she was standing on a platform with her family, being sold to the highest bidder. |
| It was very considerate of Daphney to be sick before the sale, for her wailing babe was worth to Mr. Butler all of a hundred dollars. The family sold for $625 a-piece, or $2,500 for the four. | It was good that Daphney gave birth before the auction. Her baby made extra money for her enslaver. The whole family was sold for $2,500. |
Excerpt from What Became of the Slaves on a Georgia Plantation
Q. K. Philander Doesticks, What became of the slaves on a Georgia plantation? Great auction sale of slaves, at Savannah, Georgia, March 2d & 3d, 1859. A sequel to Mrs. Kemble’s Journal (1863). New-York Historical Society Library.
Background
On March 2 and 3, 1859, at a racetrack in Savannah, Georgia, 436 enslaved men, women, and children were sold at auction. It was the largest slave auction in U.S. history. Most of the enslaved people sold during the auction had lived and worked on the same plantation for their entire lives. But their enslaver was in debt and needed cash quickly, so their lives and community were upended. The trauma of the auction was so great that the sale was remembered as “the weeping time” by the Black community.
Enslaver Pierce Mease Butler made $303,850 dollars from the sale, equivalent to over $10 million today. The success of the sale speaks to the country’s continued investment in the institution of slavery as a way to cheaply produce the raw materials needed in the factories of the North.
About the Document
Mortimer Thomson was a Northern journalist who pretended to be an enslaver in order to cover the Butler auction for the New York Tribune. His article exposed Northern readers to the continuing horrors of slavery in the U.S. at a critical time in the growing movement for total abolition. It was so controversial that he used the penname Q. K. Philander Doesticks. The American Anti-slavery Society republished his article as a pamphlet and translated it into several languages.
This excerpt highlights the treatment experienced by an enslaved woman who gave birth only two weeks before the auction.
Vocabulary
- abolition: The movement to end the practice of slavery.
- American Anti-slavery Society: A national group that promoted the total abolition of slavery in the U.S.
- New York Tribune: A New York City-based newspaper that supported the abolitionist movement.
Discussion Questions
- Who wrote this article? What are they trying to accomplish?
- How is Daphne treated during the auction? What does this reveal about the experiences of Black enslaved women?
- Why does the author say it was considerate of Daphne to give birth before the sale?
Suggested Activities
- Combine this excerpt with The Factory Floor for a lesson that explicitly connects the continuation of slavery with the rise of industrialization in the U.S.
- To help students better understand the expansion of slavery that took place concurrent with American expansion, teach this document together with Choosing Enslavement in Texas and The Second Middle Passage.
- To learn more about the experiences of enslaved and free Black women in the antebellum period, see:
- A Nation Divided: Antebellum
- Choosing Enslavement in Texas
- Claiming Freedom in Minnesota
- Life Story: Elizabeth Kahuga Shoeboots
- Life Story: Keziah Grier
- Fighting Segregation
- Life Story: Mary Ellen Pleasant
- Slavery and Indian Removal
- Life Story: Letitia Carson
- The Second Middle Passage
- Abolition Loopholes
Themes
AMERICAN IDENTITY AND CITIZENSHIP
