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Captive Passage
has been made
possible in part by:
Recognition of
additional sponsors
for this exhibition
can be found by
clicking on
ExhibitionSponsors.
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...I was then put up to sale...the people who stood by said that I had fetched a great sum for one so young a slave. I then saw my sisters led forth and sold to different owners...
Mary Prince, from The History of Mary Prince, A Former West Indian Slave, 1831
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Bahamas Slave Trading at Vendue House
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Upon reaching the Americas, ships' crews prepared the Africans for sale. They washed, shaved, and rubbed them with palm oil to disguise sores and wounds caused by conditions on board.
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TO BE SOLD on board the ship Bance Island
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The captains usually sold their captives directly to planters or specialized wholesalers by auction. Occasionally they organized a "scramble," in which buyers agreed on a price beforehand and then, on a signal, rushed to grab the fittest-looking slaves. Families who had managed to stay together were now often broken up. Bonds formed during the voyage were also broken.
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