Thirty Seasoned Negroes 1784 - Colonial Slave Trade Advertisement Poster

This chilling colonial-era advertisement from May 19, 1784, announces the sale of enslaved Africans recently arrived on the ship "Two Brothers" from the Windward Coast of Africa. The document advertises two separate sales: a cargo of "very stout Men and Women" available for immediate service, and "Thirty Seasoned Negroes" being sold for credit at a private sale, including families with specific skills.

The term "seasoned" refers to enslaved people who had survived the brutal "seasoning" period—a process of forced acclimatization to colonial life, labor, and disease that killed an estimated 30% of newly arrived Africans. The advertisement's detailed descriptions reveal the dehumanizing practice of evaluating people by their labor skills, with individuals identified as a carpenter, cook, washer-woman, and their children listed as property alongside them.

Historical Context: This 1784 advertisement dates from just after the American Revolution, when the newly independent United States continued the transatlantic slave trade that would not be officially banned until 1808. The Windward Coast of West Africa (modern-day Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast) was a major source region for enslaved people. The sale's location at "Mr. Bourdeau's Yard, at No. 48, on the Bay" indicates a public waterfront venue where human trafficking was conducted as routine commerce.

This poster preserves crucial evidence of the transatlantic slave trade's mechanics and the normalized brutality of buying and selling human beings in early American history.

Available in multiple sizes with your choice of black or natural wood frame, or unframed for custom display.