ABSTRACT
American minorities have been subjugated in varying degrees to the interests of profit-making. In March, 1859 a slave auction took place near Savannah, Georgia. Nearly five hundred slaves—men, women, children, and infants—were being auctioned off in an estate sale of two large plantations. The big event drew buyers from all over the south, and hotel rooms were quickly filled. The Negro slaves, all five hundred of them, stood nervously waiting as the buyers lit cigars and studied their log books, scanning the list of "chattel" available to them, preparing to start the bidding. The facial expression of each slave stepping on the auction block was the same—anguish about an unknown future, despair at the thought of never again seeing their loved ones. African-American families had readily available liquid wealth of only $200, less than $1 for every $100 owned by whites. African-Americans are more than double that for white children.
