Two miles west of downtown Savannah, Georgia, sits a historical marker in the center of a small plot of a fenced in city park. The triangular park measures not more than a fifth of an acre. The surrounding neighborhood is one of the most distressed and depressed sections of the city.
Why is it called the weeping time?
During the two days of the sale, raindrops fell unceasingly on the racetrack. It was almost as though the heavens were crying. So, too, fell teardrops from many of the 436 men, women, and children who were auctioned off during the two days. The sale would thereafter be known as “the weeping time.”
What is the weeping time?
“The Weeping Time” was the largest auction of enslaved people in U.S. history, and was held so that slave owner Pierce Mease Butler could pay off his gambling debts. Butler, the grandson of one of the signers of the U.S. Constitution, Senator Pierce Butler, inherited half of his grandfather’s vast Georgia plantation.
What happened to the slaves during the weeping time?
In most cases the slaves were sold as families, including a mother and her 15-day-old baby. Extended families and whatever community they had on the Butler plantations were destroyed. The 436 people sold over those two days went to plantations throughout the South. There’s little trace of what became of them.
Where did they sell slaves in Savannah?
The Great Slave Auction (also called the Weeping Time) was an auction of enslaved Africans held at Ten Broeck Race Course, near Savannah, Georgia, United States, on March 2 and 3, 1859.
Where did most slaves in Georgia come from?
Between 1750 and 1775 Georgia’s enslaved population grew in size from less than 500 to approximately 18,000 people. Beginning in the mid-1760s, Georgia began to import captive workers directly from Africa—mainly from Angola, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia.
Which country was the largest trader of slaves?
The Dutch became the foremost traders of enslaved people during parts of the 1600s, and in the following century English and French merchants controlled about half of the transatlantic slave trade, taking a large percentage of their human cargo from the region of West Africa between the Sénégal and Niger rivers.
In what part of Georgia was the plantation located?
Located in the red clay hills of the Georgia piedmont, It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is a Georgia state park in Jones County.
| Jarrell Plantation | |
|---|---|
| NRHP reference No. | 73000624 |
| Added to NRHP | May 9, 1973 |
What year did slavery end?
1865
The House Joint Resolution proposing the 13th amendment to the Constitution, January 31, 1865; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-1999; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.
What city in Georgia had the most slaves?
Savannah
Savannah remained Georgia’s largest city, as it had always been, with the highest concentration of enslaved people (around 35 percent). With 22,292 residents, Savannah was nearly twice the size of Augusta, the second-largest city in the state, with 12,493 people.
How many slaves were in Savannah Georgia?
By the eve of the American Revolution, the colony held 16,000 slaves. Almost all of the forced migrants arrived in Georgia through the port of Savannah. Slave labor quickly became central to the economic success of the Georgia colony.
When did slavery end in Savannah Ga?
The city of Savannah served as a major port for the Atlantic slave trade from 1750, when the Georgia colony repealed its ban on slavery, until 1798, when the state outlawed the importation of enslaved people.
What did slaves drink?
in which slaves obtained alcohol outside of the special occasions on which their masters allowed them to drink it. Some female house slaves were assigned to brew cider, beer, and/or brandy on their plantations.
What is the oldest plantation in Georgia?
The oldest of Georgia’s tidewater estates, Wormsloe has remained in the hands of the same family since the mid-1730s. Claimed and developed by founding Georgia…
What was the biggest plantation in Georgia?
Juliette
- Home.
- Jarrell Plantation.
Who started slavery?
Sumer or Sumeria is still thought to be the birthplace of slavery, which grew out of Sumer into Greece and other parts of ancient Mesopotamia. The Ancient East, specifically China and India, didn’t adopt the practice of slavery until much later, as late as the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC.
Who started slavery in Africa?
Beginning in the 16th century, European merchants initiated the transatlantic slave trade, purchasing enslaved Africans from West African kingdoms and transporting them to Europe’s colonies in the Americas.
Are Jamaicans originally from Africa?
The vast majority of Jamaicans are of African descent, with minorities of Europeans, East Indians, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and others of mixed ancestry. The bulk of the Jamaican diaspora resides in other Anglophone countries, namely Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
What is the best plantation to visit in Georgia?
What are the best Georgia Plantation Tours?
- Savannah: Wormsloe Plantation and Bonaventure Cemetery Tour.
- Savannah: Small-Group Guided Historical Tour.
- From Darien: Sapelo Island History and Beach Tour.
Do plantations still exist in Georgia?
The Jarrell Plantation
State Historic Site is a cotton plantation and state park in Juliette, Georgia. Located in the red clay hills of the Georgia piedmont, the site stands as one of the best preserved examples of a “middle class” Southern plantation.
Do plantations still exist in the South?
At the height of slavery, the National Humanities Center estimates that there were over 46,000 plantations stretching across the southern states. Now, for the hundreds whose gates remain open to tourists, lies a choice. Every plantation has its own story to tell, and its own way to tell it.