Slaveryto
freedom
Harrisburg on the eve of Civil War
Study Areas
Slave Merchants Franklin & Armfield Advertisement
Alexandria, January 27, 1832
Cash in Market.
We wish to purchase one hundred and fifty likely Negroes of both sexes from 12 to 25 years of age, field hands; also mechanics of every description.
Persons having such to sell, would do well to give us a call, as we are determined to give higher prices for slaves than any purchaser who is now, or may hereafter come into this market.
All communications promptly attended to. We can at all times be found at our residence, West end of Duke street, Alexandria, D. C.
Franklin & Armfield.
Jan 27.
Source: National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), 28 January 1832.
Notes: The slave trading firm of Isaac Franklin and John Armfield was established in 1828. This advertisement represents the firm during its most profitable years. The Duke Street office, mentioned in the advertisement, is still standing in Alexandria, Virginia, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (Link to more information for this building)
Early Franklin & Armfield Advertisements
Notes: At top is one of the first advertisements placed by Franklin & Armfield when they acquired their Duke Street property in Alexandria. Below it is the standard advertisement, the wording of which changed very little over the next decade. They raised the minimum age for the children they were seeking from eight to twelve, and specified "field hands" and "mechanics" as their most desired type of slave. After only a few years in the business, their reputation had spread throughout the lower South, and planters sought their assistance in acquiring large numbers of slaves for plantation work. At bottom is a supplemental ad from Franklin and Armfield acting as agents for a Louisiana cotton planter seeking to buy up to 60 enslaved persons, preferably families.
Sources of above ads: Alexandria Gazette, 15 June 1829, 25 November 1831.
The Year of Jubilee
Vol. 1: Men of God and Vol. 2: Men of Muscle
by George F. Nagle
Both volumes of the Afrolumens book are now available to read directly from this site.
