My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Natchez Part Two, Forks of the Road

Besides its antebellum mansions, stately churches, and Southern charms, the past of Natchez has one distinctive blemish--its role in the slave trade in the years leading up to the Civil War.

Slavery in America changed in the 19th century. It slowly faded away in the North, and in states such as Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee, the use of slaves became less important as agriculture shifted from tobacco to mixed-use farming--less labor was needed. Some benevolent owners freed their slaves, more sold them to slave traders who shipped the men, women and children--often splitting up families in the process--to auctioneers in the deep South. Cotton, a labor intensive crop in the 1800s and one that became increasingly important to Southern plantation owners as the century dragged on, grows best in states such as Mississippi and Louisiana.

Before the Civil War, New Orleans was the busiest slave market in nation, Natchez was second--about 1,000 human beings were sold each year at the The Forks of the Road, on the west side of the historic town.

My guess is that thirty years ago there were no historical markers on this site. There is one now--there are also four interpretavie signs, which tell of "enlaved persons" instead of slaves, these were added just two months ago.

Money is being raised to buy land adjacent to the Forks of the Road, with the hope of building an historical center there.

Next: More Natchez

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