Descendants of the west Africans who picked the cotton that made Manchester rich are struggling to keep their distinct culture alive
Dorcas, who was 17 and picked Sea Island cotton, sold for $1,200. Cassander, a 35-year-old “prime woman” who also picked cotton but was prone to “fits”, sold for “just” $400. The same price was paid for Emiline, 19, who was described as a “prime young woman cotton hand”, and Judy, who was only 11.
Under torrential rains, on 2 and 3 March 1859, these enslaved Africans, who worked on rice and cotton plantations in the Sea Islands of Georgia, were sold at the Ten Broeck racecourse in Savannah. One witness to the sale wrote that the weather was so “violent” that it felt as if the skies had opened and wept. That is how this event, the largest auction of enslaved people in US history, came to be called the Weeping Time.
