The Ledger and the Chain: How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America

National Archives Museum
Online

Slave traders are peripheral figures in most histories of American slavery. But these men—who trafficked and sold over half a million enslaved people from the Upper South to the Deep South—were essential to slavery’s expansion and fueled the growth and prosperity of the United States. In The Ledger and the Chain, historian Joshua D. Rothman recounts the forgotten story of America’s internal slave trade—and its role in the making of America. Moderating today’s program is Rachel Swarns.