Black Lives Matter: The price of a slave in the18th Century
Credit: Image courtesy of University of Cambridge A list detailing the names, ages and prices of slaves bought by British plantation owner William Philip Perrin from John Broomfield in 1796. Price of Britain’s slave trade revealed " What these letters reveal, apart from a total lack of empathy for their human commodities is the sheer amount of money involved ." Letters and papers revealing in detail how human beings were priced for sale during the 18th century Transatlantic Slave Trade have been made available to researchers and the public. Letters discussing the value and sale of slaves in the 18th century, which provide a distressing reminder of the powerful business interests that sustained one of the darkest chapters in British history, are to be made available to researchers and the public by St John's College, University of Cambridge. The collection contains the business exchanges of an 18th century English landowner, William Philip Perrin, who...