Receipt for sale of Jane, age 18, and her son, Henry, age 1

Transcription:

> Recd of Judge S. Williams six hundred Dollars in full payment for Jane, a negro woman 18 years old and henry her child, about one year old, together with her future increase if any which negroes I warrant to be sound in body and mind and slaves for life witness my hand and seal this 20th day of Decr 1849.

> The conditions of the above instrument are such that if the undersigned shall pay or cause to be paid to Judge S. Williams by the 1st Jan 1851 the sum of six hundred Dollars good and lawful money the property as above described to revert to the undersigned and the Instrument to be void, otherwise to remain in full force and virtue this Day and Date above written, signed, sealed, and delivered in presents of J. M. Lamply, John Williams seal

$600 in 1849 is equivalent to ~$27,000 today. But since that doesn't tell us much...

In the same year, cows sold for $10 and horses for 80$ [1]. I'm not sure what to think of it. Sounds like a lot, but also way too little.

[1] https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008282264&se...

I was a law clerk at the Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, Ore. I’d run to work and the showers were in the ancient basement where all the court records were archived. Occasionally, I would route through the records because I found old law stuff interesting. One day I came across a court order for a man to be hanged in the public square. It was from the 1920s. He was black and had married a white woman. Our history is horrific.

This might be a bold and controversial opinion for Hacker News, but I'll say it anyway: Slavery is wrong.