The History Behind a Slave's Bill of Sale

An interesting document is discussed on the Smithsonian's blog.

From the piece...

On a worn, aged piece of paper dated 1835, a judge describes the details of his sale: a 16-year-old girl named Polly, with “yellow complexion and black eyes,” the sale and purchase of whom the judge says he will warrant and defend “at all cost.”

The Bill of Sale, as documents like this became known, is one of dozens of new artifacts that the National Museum of African American History and Culture is assembling for its growing collections. The Bill of Sale is one that Director Lonnie Bunch says can enlighten people’s knowledge about the lives of slaves.

“Part of what is so interesting to me is that there are so many aspects of the enslaved that we don’t know anything about,” he says. “But because they were treated as property we have a whole legal trail.”