Missing: The Kidnapping of Black Americans

Although the international slave trade was outlawed in 1808, the demand for free labor continued to escalate as the country expanded and the cotton crop overtook tobacco as the country's most in demand export. When the domestic slave trade proved insufficient, or too expensive, many planters resorted to purchasing their labor on the black market. These individuals were often free young men and women who were kidnapped from their homes in the north and forced into a life of servitude. Join...