Williams' Gang : a notorious slave trader and his cargo of black convicts / Jeff Forret.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Forret, Jeff, 1972- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Williams, William H., approximately 1802-1858.

Williams, William H.

Slave traders--Washington (D.C.)--Biography.

Slave traders.

Slave trade--United States--History--19th century.

Slave trade.

Slavery--United States--History--19th century.

Slavery.

Local history.

History.

United States.

Washington (D.C.)--History, Local.

Washington (D.C.).

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xii, 470 pages ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Notorious slave trader and his cargo of black convicts

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom : New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Summary:

William H. Williams operated a slave pen in Washington, DC, known as the Yellow House, and actively trafficked in enslaved men, women, and children for more than twenty years. His slave trading activities took an extraordinary turn in 1840 when he purchased twenty-seven enslaved convicts from the Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond with the understanding that he could carry them outside of the United States for sale. When Williams conveyed his captives illegally into New Orleans, allegedly while en route to the foreign country of Texas, he prompted a series of courtroom dramas that would last for almost three decades. Based on court records, newspapers, governors' files, slave manifests, slave narratives, travelers' accounts, and penitentiary data, Williams' Gang examines slave criminality, the coastwise domestic slave trade, and southern jurisprudence as it supplies a compelling portrait of the economy, society, and politics of the Old South.

Contents:

Introduction: The slave depot of Washington, D.C.

An ambush

The Yellow House

Sale and transportation

Mobile to New Orleans

Legal troubles

The Millington Bank

State v. Williams

Slave trading in "hard times"

Politics of the slave pen

Brothers

The Louisiana State Penitentiary

Closure

Perseverance

Violet

Epilogue: The legal legacy of the domestic slave trade

Appendix A: The Williams' Gang slaves

Appendix B: Sample slaving voyages of William H. Williams and his associates

Appendix C: Slave data from sample slaving voyages.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 372-453) and index.

ISBN:

9781108493031

1108493033

OCLC:

1137060854