Quetext about FAQ contact Slavery’s existence throughout history has shown that their life was generally unfair and considered a subservient class. Auctioned or traded as servants, they were obligated to live in perpetual service to their master, considered property instead of citizens, and between 1820 and 1840 over a million Africans were estimated as being imported to the United States. With the high demand for cotton, the population of slaves had grown to nearly four million by 1860. Early on during the importation of African slaves, slaves could often be purchased onboard the ship and buyers would scramble to buy them at an agreed price previously determined by categories of age and sex. They were also available for purchase …show more content…
One end of the room were benches for the slaves and the other end had chairs for the buyers. During the auction, slaves may be asked to showcase themselves and to move around, demonstrate their agility and health, and even made to dance. A podium or platform would be used for the auctioneer. Generally, there was an office for payments and document handling. Behind the auction houses were pens or otherwise known as slave jails, where slaves awaited to be sold. Buyers would often interview a slave to try and find out their value for the type of labor they were looking for or the personality they had to try and reduce any problems. Slaves would then attempt to influence a decision based on what they felt would be in their favor for a potential good owner. Due to the labor that slaves had provided, the dependence on cotton and other raw materials was most significant, but their labor was also used in personal residences, commercial manufacturing, and in the agricultural industry. Men would also often work as a butler, barber cook or unskilled jobs such as an attendant, carriage driver, gatekeeper, or waiters. Women would often find labor as a tailor, nanny, seamstress, housekeeper, or maid.