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Seeing the Unseen: Baltimore’s slave trade |…

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Saturday, May 11th 2024

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John N. Denning placed ads in The Sun in the 1840s, boasting, "The highest prices, in cash, for ... Negroes." One of his slave jails, on North Exeter Street near Low Street in Jonestown, is today in the vicinity of the Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training complex. The nonprofit organization offers transitional housing, training and jobs for veterans. Resident Charles Irving, 74, at right, has a security job with MCVET. When told that a slave jail had existed nearby, Irving said, "I'd like to do more research myself on my family history."
Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun
John N. Denning placed ads in The Sun in the 1840s, boasting, “The highest prices, in cash, for … Negroes.” One of his slave jails, on North Exeter Street near Low Street in Jonestown, is today in the vicinity of the Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training complex. The nonprofit organization offers transitional housing, training and jobs for veterans. Resident Charles Irving, 74, at right, has a security job with MCVET. When told that a slave jail had existed nearby, Irving said, “I’d like to do more research myself on my family history.”

Seeing the Unseen: Baltimore’s slave trade | PHOTOS

By | lfox@baltsun.com
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Beyond the Babe Ruth statue at what is today Oriole Park at Camden Yards, slave trader Joseph S. Donovan opened his final slave jail in 1858, at the southwest corner of Eutaw and Camden streets.
Beyond the Babe Ruth statue at what is today Oriole Park at Camden Yards, slave trader Joseph S. Donovan opened his final slave jail in 1858, at the southwest corner of Eutaw and Camden streets.
The only official state historical marker in the city noting the major domestic slave trade active throughout downtown Baltimore is on East Pratt Street outside the Reginald F. Lewis Museum.
The only official state historical marker in the city noting the major domestic slave trade active throughout downtown Baltimore is on East Pratt Street outside the Reginald F. Lewis Museum.
One of Baltimore's most notorious slave jails opened in 1838 on West Pratt Street, just east of Howard Street. Hope Hull Slatter built a high-walled pen with barred cells in the rear of his mansion. The abysmal conditions contributed to a brief revolt in 1862, injuring Slatter's successor, Bernard Moore Campbell. On July 27, 1863, Union troops freed the enslaved prisoners, and the male occupants followed the troops to enlist in the Union Army.
One of Baltimore’s most notorious slave jails opened in 1838 on West Pratt Street, just east of Howard Street. Hope Hull Slatter built a high-walled pen with barred cells in the rear of his mansion. The abysmal conditions contributed to a brief revolt in 1862, injuring Slatter’s successor, Bernard Moore Campbell. On July 27, 1863, Union troops freed the enslaved prisoners, and the male occupants followed the troops to enlist in the Union Army.
Moses Sheppard, a Quaker merchant, philanthropist and abolitionist, resided at 200 W. Pratt St. on the same block as the Slatter/Campbell slave jail.
Moses Sheppard, a Quaker merchant, philanthropist and abolitionist, resided at 200 W. Pratt St. on the same block as the Slatter/Campbell slave jail.
Lady Baltimore, a replica of the original, tops the Battle Monument, which honors soldiers who died in the War of 1812 and gave Monument Square its name. When the first public war memorial was completed in 1825, Barnum's City Hotel opened on the site, which is now occupied by the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse. Transactions between slave traders, their agents, and slaveholders took place at this and other hotels and taverns downtown.
Lady Baltimore, a replica of the original, tops the Battle Monument, which honors soldiers who died in the War of 1812 and gave Monument Square its name. When the first public war memorial was completed in 1825, Barnum’s City Hotel opened on the site, which is now occupied by the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse. Transactions between slave traders, their agents, and slaveholders took place at this and other hotels and taverns downtown.
In 1846, Joseph S. Donovan built a slave pen at 13 Camden St., roughly where the Hyatt Regency Baltimore stands on Light Street. While Donovan was a city councilman from 1843 to 1852, he made 65 shipments of enslaved people to New Orleans.
In 1846, Joseph S. Donovan built a slave pen at 13 Camden St., roughly where the Hyatt Regency Baltimore stands on Light Street. While Donovan was a city councilman from 1843 to 1852, he made 65 shipments of enslaved people to New Orleans.
Joseph S. Donovan sent more than 2,200 enslaved people to New Orleans. He died in 1861 in the same month that the Civil War started, at age 60. His widow, Caroline, continued the operation of a slave jail behind their home at Eutaw and Camden streets until the Civil War. Their family mausoleum is at Green Mount Cemetery in the city.
Joseph S. Donovan sent more than 2,200 enslaved people to New Orleans. He died in 1861 in the same month that the Civil War started, at age 60. His widow, Caroline, continued the operation of a slave jail behind their home at Eutaw and Camden streets until the Civil War. Their family mausoleum is at Green Mount Cemetery in the city.
The commercial wharves that once rimmed the waterfront from the Inner Harbor to Fells Point were the hub of a coastal slave trade that helped fuel Baltimore's prosperous antebellum economy.
The commercial wharves that once rimmed the waterfront from the Inner Harbor to Fells Point were the hub of a coastal slave trade that helped fuel Baltimore’s prosperous antebellum economy.
The wharves at the Basin, the original name for the Inner Harbor, were used in the domestic slave trade. Bowly's Wharf at the foot of South Street, facing today's Pratt Street Pavilion, was one of the embarkation points. The USS Constellation, at right, a sloop-of-war built in 1854, captured slave ships off Africa and saw duty during the Civil War.
The wharves at the Basin, the original name for the Inner Harbor, were used in the domestic slave trade. Bowly’s Wharf at the foot of South Street, facing today’s Pratt Street Pavilion, was one of the embarkation points. The USS Constellation, at right, a sloop-of-war built in 1854, captured slave ships off Africa and saw duty during the Civil War.
A runner's shadow falls on the Residences at Henderson's Wharf in Fells Point, Baltimore's first deepwater port. A short jog around the Fells Point waterfront passes roughly 20 former wharves that were active in the coastal slave trade between Baltimore and New Orleans.
A runner’s shadow falls on the Residences at Henderson’s Wharf in Fells Point, Baltimore’s first deepwater port. A short jog around the Fells Point waterfront passes roughly 20 former wharves that were active in the coastal slave trade between Baltimore and New Orleans.
A bronze head of abolitionist Frederick Douglass by Marc Andre Robinson dominates Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park, near where Douglass lived as a child. In his 1852 speech, “What, To the Slave, is the Fourth of July,” Douglass recalls, “the slave ships in the Basin, anchored from the shore, with their cargoes of human flesh, waiting for favorable winds to waft them down the Chesapeake … In the deep, still darkness of midnight I have been often aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door.”
Near the National Aquarium, lines secure the USCG Lightship Chesapeake at the Gay Street dock, along what was once called Spear's Wharf. In the first half of the 19th century, ships unloaded barrels of liquor, pig iron, food and other goods, and for the return voyage, packed their holds with enslaved people and more cargo.
Near the National Aquarium, lines secure the USCG Lightship Chesapeake at the Gay Street dock, along what was once called Spear’s Wharf. In the first half of the 19th century, ships unloaded barrels of liquor, pig iron, food and other goods, and for the return voyage, packed their holds with enslaved people and more cargo.
The house at 1225 Harford Ave., now missing its third floor, marks the site of a long-gone 1830s home and slave jail of trader James Franklin Purvis. Purvis once bragged that his pen, “in one of the highest and most healthy parts of the city, having a free circulation of air, and a yard for exercise throughout the day must necessarily be more healthy than in the center of the city, especially in hot weather.”
The Warden's House, part of the Gothic Maryland Penitentiary, dates to 1859. An earlier jail was erected in this area in 1800. The old city jail imprisoned more than 3,500 suspected runaways between 1827 and the emancipation of enslaved people in Maryland in 1864.
The Warden’s House, part of the Gothic Maryland Penitentiary, dates to 1859. An earlier jail was erected in this area in 1800. The old city jail imprisoned more than 3,500 suspected runaways between 1827 and the emancipation of enslaved people in Maryland in 1864.
John N. Denning placed ads in The Sun in the 1840s, boasting, “The highest prices, in cash, for … Negroes.” One of his slave jails, on North Exeter Street near Low Street in Jonestown, is today in the vicinity of the Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training complex. The nonprofit organization offers transitional housing, training and jobs for veterans. Resident Charles Irving, 74, at right, has a security job with MCVET. When told that a slave jail had existed nearby, Irving said, “I’d like to do more research myself on my family history.”
The historic Fish Market on Market Place, home of Port Discovery Children's Museum, is the only surviving structure from the large Center Market complex (also known as Marsh Market Center) that operated west of the Jones Falls. The swarm of activity around the market sheds included slave auctions held at Garland Burnett's Tavern, near the head of the market, and at other stalls and taverns.
The historic Fish Market on Market Place, home of Port Discovery Children’s Museum, is the only surviving structure from the large Center Market complex (also known as Marsh Market Center) that operated west of the Jones Falls. The swarm of activity around the market sheds included slave auctions held at Garland Burnett’s Tavern, near the head of the market, and at other stalls and taverns.
Auctions of enslaved people were held dockside and at slave pens, markets, taverns, hotels, warehouses and on the steps of the courthouse and jail. One location was Vendue Warehouse on South Frederick Street, near Water Street. These auctions took place in the vicinity of the present-day Holocaust Memorial.
Auctions of enslaved people were held dockside and at slave pens, markets, taverns, hotels, warehouses and on the steps of the courthouse and jail. One location was Vendue Warehouse on South Frederick Street, near Water Street. These auctions took place in the vicinity of the present-day Holocaust Memorial.
Austin Woolfolk established a base for his slave trading operation in 1821 on the north side of West Pratt Street, just west of today’s Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. A pretty, white frame house belied what was in the rear — a slave prison. As the most prominent local slave dealer in the 1820s, Woolfolk was targeted by abolitionist publisher Benjamin Lundy. When Lundy called him a “monster in human shape,” Woolfolk viciously attacked him. Though the slave trader was found guilty of assault, he was only assessed a $1 fine. The site of Woolfolk’s slave jail is now a small park, scattered with the tents of people living there.
Darcel Donofrio, front, and her husband, Romeo Donofrio, of Pikesville, bring weekly meals to people at an encampment near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Darcel Donofrio observed that the homeless “need to be reminded that they have character and dignity, and that they are people of value like everyone else.”
Jamie House, 38, from Camden, New Jersey, came to Baltimore with his wife, Evie, a Baltimore native. After living together in a tent near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for three years, his wife recently entered a residential methadone treatment program. House expressed hope that they will be accepted into an addiction treatment program for couples. Two centuries ago, a slave jail was operated at this location by Austin Woolfolk.
Jamie House, 38, from Camden, New Jersey, came to Baltimore with his wife, Evie, a Baltimore native. After living together in a tent near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for three years, his wife recently entered a residential methadone treatment program. House expressed hope that they will be accepted into an addiction treatment program for couples. Two centuries ago, a slave jail was operated at this location by Austin Woolfolk.

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