A New Image of the Slave Auction: An Empirical Look at the Role of Law in Slave Sales and a Conceptual Reevaluation of Slave Property

The slave auction is among the most powerful images in the history of the United States. Depictions of slave auctions vary, but of the recurring compositional elements, the most fearful and moving is the separation by sale of a young child from his or her mother. The slave auction image starkly represents the inhumanity of American slavery, the racism of the United States, and the contradictions of American liberalism.