October 13, 1865
From the African Repository, is a brief article by Dr. Livingston, the American explorer. He responds to a question he is often asked: “What sort of people are those you wander amongst?” Here are some excerpts from his response: “they are very far from being savages… quite mild and hospitable … it is the duty of each man in the village to give every stranger his supper…they are involved cultivating the soil…they manufacture excellent iron and copper …they do not understand where all the black people that are carried away go to.. thousand are taken away annually, and you cannot go anywhere without meeting with slave parties…they imagine that the white people eat them. They look upon us as cannibals, and we look upon them as savages. If we take an impartial view both, we shall find that they are better than each imagine one another to be.”
January 18, 1861
“The ship Lesbia, under French colors, (supposed to be the ship Montauk of New York,) was recently taken by a Spanish steamer of war, and brought into Havana, with 900 negroes on board.”
November 2, 1860
This article, from the N.Y. Journal of Commerce, appears in the Refuge of Oppression column. A few words give a sense of its point. “The native African is an habitual drunkard, a thief, a liar, revengeful, licentious, groveling in his habits, almost destitute of natural affection, unprogressive in character, and in religion a devotee of the obscene mysteries of Fetichism… The negroes held in slavery in the United States are much better off, physically and morally, than their ignorant and degraded brothers in Africa….only those who own slaves can abolish slavery, and ….every imprudent, or concealed, or violent opposition on the part of Northern men, does more injury than good, and impedes the advancement of genuine humanity.”
August 3, 1860
A brief article from the Traveler, tells of American vessels in the Congo river, in June. The article implicates English vessels also, in a conspiratorial effort to engage in the slave trade, “without having on board sufficient slave material to convict any one of them.”
July 20, 1860
A story from Clifton, Illinois, telling of a band of nine men from Missouri, who kidnapped three colored men living in that town. Two others got away. There is suspicion of collusion between the men and the conductor of the train onto which the men were taken, bound for St. Louis. This article is followed by another, which indicates that five persons were on trial for assisting the kidnappers.
May 11, 1860
The article includes portions of a printed copy of a Report on the Coolie Trade made to the US House of Representatives, by the Hon. Mr. Eliot of Massachusetts, from the Committee of Commerce.
September 2, 1859
An article from the Richmond Enquirer lists prices brought for slaves on the Richmond market. For instance: Men, 20 to 26 years, from $1450 to $1500….girls, from 12 to 15, from $1,000 to $1100
February 4, 1859
Under the Refuge of Oppression column, an article from the Paris (Kentucky) Flag, begins with a listing of mules, colts, stock cattle which are for sale. The next paragraph then begins, “Negroes sold at very high prices. Boys eighteen years old from $1,220 to $l,085….” In the same column, an in item from the Montgomery Confederation continues the listing of “Good Prices for Negroes”
August 27, 1858
“The cooley trade, as now organized and developed, is unquestionable and perpetual slavery.” The brief article then describes how the trade functions, from kidnapping to shipping, to selling into slavery.
January 1, 1858
Several articles tell of a continuing slave trade, focusing especially on Cuba, and also on the French trade.
