Audio
Human Trafficking Along the Old Trace, Mount Locust, Milepost 15.5
Transcript
In front of you, behind this sign, is an open field with a few trees in the immediate foreground. Behind you is a split rail fence and an open field beyond. To the right, a paved path leads back towards the historic Mount Locust house. To your left, a paved path continues along the edge of the open field towards a more densely wooded area. The text on the wayside reads:
Human Trafficking Along the Old Trace
Between 1820 and 1860, one million enslaved persons were forcibly marched from Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky to the states of the Old Southwest. Many traveled in coffles – groups of 30 to 50 enslaved men, women, and children chained together – down the Old Trace. This journey was dangerous and difficult physically, emotionally, and psychologically.
The coffles of the enslaved were taken to enslavement markets like Forks of the Road, located in Natchez. Forks of the Road was the second largest enslavement market in the Old Southwest during the 1800s.
As the Mount Locust cotton plantation expanded, there was an increased demand for enslaved labor. Some individuals were purchased at Forks of the Road.
On the left side of the exhibit is a black and white illustration of enslaved African Americans walking in a coffles – chained at the ankles and wrists. They walk in a long train, two side-by-side. Five rows back a woman holds the hand of a small child walking alongside her.
In the background on the right, a white man with a beard and mustache holds a whip above his head. On the left, a white man and woman in upperclass attire look on as the coffle passes by them.
In the lower right corner of the exhibit is an etching of a cotton engine. The small tabletop machine has a wooden drum covered in spikes with a hand crank on one end. The caption reads:
Cotton Boom
The mechanized cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, revolutionized the cotton industry in the United States. Cotton farming became more profitable and many plantations, like Mount Locust, expanded into the industry. This led to an increase in demand for enslaved labor – cotton still had to be handpicked – as well as an increase in trafficking along the Old Trace.
Description
An audio description of the wayside "Human Trafficking Along the Old Trace" at Mount Locust.
Credit
NPS Audio / P. Pinson
Date Created
05/20/2025
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