"Negroes" for sale
Dublin Core
Title
"Negroes" for sale
Subject
Opposition to the underground railroad
Description
Public notices of availability of two African Americans for purchase, a sixteen-year-old girl, and a forty-three-year-old man. Parallel to the Underground Railroad, there existed a "reverse underground railroad," which, as in this item, targeted African Americans in Kaskaskia, Illinois, and other places on the southern and western Illinois borders. State "black codes" required African Americans to provide proof they were not fugitives; those who could not could be sold into slavery.
Creator
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Source
Illinois Reporter newspaper
Publisher
NPR Illinois
Date
December 12, 1826
Rights
none asserted
Format
jpeg photograph
Language
English
Type
text
Identifier
WIUGRR #7
Coverage
Illinois, United States
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
For sale, a likely negro girl, 16 years of age
For further particulars, enquire at this office.
Kaskaskia Dec 12, 1826 21-8t
Public notice. This day was committed to the custody of the sheriff of Randolph county, State of Illinois, a Runaway, a Negro Man who calls himself Martin Barker, about forty-three years of age about five feet nine inches high, a scar over his right eye, and also one on his right leg above his ankle, his make and appearance active; he states that he once belonged to Lewis Barker, of Pope county, near the Rock-in-Cave but that he is now free. If any person has any legal claim to him, they are requested to exhibit the same, and pay all charges according to law.
For further particulars, enquire at this office.
Kaskaskia Dec 12, 1826 21-8t
Public notice. This day was committed to the custody of the sheriff of Randolph county, State of Illinois, a Runaway, a Negro Man who calls himself Martin Barker, about forty-three years of age about five feet nine inches high, a scar over his right eye, and also one on his right leg above his ankle, his make and appearance active; he states that he once belonged to Lewis Barker, of Pope county, near the Rock-in-Cave but that he is now free. If any person has any legal claim to him, they are requested to exhibit the same, and pay all charges according to law.
Original Format
digital image
Files
Citation
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, “"Negroes" for sale,” Traces of Western Illinois' Underground Railroad, accessed October 7, 2026, https://timroberts.org/wiugrr/items/show/7.