For many visitors, however, there was also an undercurrent of brutality they found hard to abide. Enslaved Blacks transported from the upper South in the extremely lucrative domestic trade arrived by ship and train, but also on foot in “coffles,” groups of captive men, women, and children often tethered together with chains and iron collars. The city had thirty-two slave brokerages, which held frequent auctions. One traveler who out of curiosity paused to witness an auction found himself deeply repulsed. “The scene was most painful, humiliating, and degrading,” he wrote. “I became quite
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