The Value of the Enslaved from Womb to Grave
Daina Ramey Berry gives a lecture entitled "The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved from Womb to Grave." From the moment of birth and before, those invested in buying and selling human beings put a price tag on enslaved people. This fiscal marker served as a projection of future worth as well as a monetary value of a market price. Regardless of what the figure meant, enslaved people created their own system of valuation that neither the auctioneer nor enslaver could control. Exploring enslaved people's inner spirits expressed in plantation records, newspapers, testimonies, and letters brings us to an entirely different system of values developed and determined by the enslaved for the survival of their souls. Speaker Biography: Daina Ramey Berry is an associate professor of history and African diaspora studies and the Oliver H. Radkey Fellow in American History at the University of Texas at Austin. For transcript and more information, visit www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=7974
