A Slave Pen at New Orleans

ID: 4692 ~ Source: Courtesy of the Historic New Orleans Collection ~ Creator: Harper's Weekly ~ Date: January 24, 1863

This file appears in: Henry Bibb and The Slave Pens of New Orleans

This drawing from Harper's Weekly illustrates the fancy dress of enslaved individuals who would line up outside slave pens to be crudely inspected by buyers.

This file appears in: Henry Bibb and The Slave Pens of New Orleans

Henry Bibb and The Slave Pens of New Orleans

By Dahlia El-Shafei, Kate Mason, editor & Kathryn O'Dwyer, editor

During the major slave-trading season, September through May, yards surrounded by high brick walls called slave pens bustled with activity in the areas surrounding the French Quarter. Slave traders forced enslaved men, women, and children to line up…