Forrest & Maples Slave Dealers: Memphis Negro Mart

Chilling city directory advertisement from Forrest & Maples, slave dealers operating at 87 Adams Street in Memphis, Tennessee. This detailed business listing advertises their "Negro Mart" where they kept "constantly on hand the best selected assortment of FIELD HANDS, HOUSE SERVANTS & MECHANICS" with "fresh supplies of likely Young Negroes" arriving daily from Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. The casual business language—"good stock," "highest market price," "examine their stock before purchasing"—treats human beings as inventory to be inspected and bought. The advertisement boasts of their jail facility "capable of containing Three Hundred" enslaved people, emphasizing "comfort, neatness and safety" for the imprisoned humans awaiting sale. The mention of selling "on Commission" reveals the commercial infrastructure of the domestic slave trade. This city directory listing shows how normalized and public the slave trade had become, advertised alongside other businesses as routine commerce. A stark document of slavery's complete integration into American business, available in three sizes with your choice of black or silver aluminum frame.