Bryana Nichelson

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Source Analysis 3

Bryana Nichelson

February 14, 2024

Title: The Slave Trade in St. Louis

Author: National Park Service

Source Date: January 3, 2024 (last updated)

Source Type: Article

Summary: 

This source is an article about the slave trade in St. Louis, specifically the impact Bernard Lynch and his slave pen had on slave trading across the states. In this article Bernard Lynch is referred to as the “most prominent slave trader in St. Louis.” Lynch’s primary trade site was called “Lynch’s Slave Pen.” The slave pen incarcerated slaves about to be sold at auction, freedom seekers who’d been captured, and free black people who had violated the law. Lynch’s employees regularly violently punished those held in the slave pen and auctions where slaves were sold to the highest bidder were held at least once a week. During this period black people living in Missouri were considered property under state law and they were sold as such. Black people being traded and sold off to various states across the South resulted in them being separated from their families and often, never to see them again. A section of this article is titled “Slavery and Freedom: Remembering the Victims of St. Louis’s Slave Trade”. This section included advertisement for the selling on 17 black people on May 31, 1843 at the St. Louis courthouse. The ad included first names of the slaves, genders, and ages. The slaves being sold were from ages one to thirty years of age. In this section we also learn that during sales, black people were often forced to wear little to no clothing in front of large audiences. We also see newspaper ads that lynch posted for his business reading, “For Sale–A very likely intelligent MULATTO BOY, between ten and twelve years of age. Is a good hand to wash dishes, wait on the table, take care of children, run on errands, &c. Address post office, box 2,577.” 

Analysis:

This source is useful to our research because the area where the slave pen was located is in close proximity to the Missouri Botanical Garden. Today, the original location of Lynch’s Slave Pen is the site of Ballpark Village which is roughly 5 miles distance from the garden. It is just as important for us to know the history of slavery at both the garden and what is now Ballpark Village because there are people who freely enjoy the benefits of these spaces with no knowledge of the complicated past. 

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