On a clear mid-October morning, Harold Singletary stood before a teal shroud draped across a building on one of the renowned architectural stretches in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. As a Black businessman, Singletary had never imagined he would be in this position on a familiar street, unveiling a historical marker with significant meaning.
The event marked the recognition of a historical site where a finely restored antebellum structure once accommodated an auction firm. This firm, in 1835, orchestrated the largest documented domestic slave sale in U.S. history, involving 600 enslaved individuals.
The significance of this marker lies in the fact that the streets of downtown Charleston, once bustling with enterprises central to the slave trade, often do not visibly reveal their history to passersby. Singletary, who grew up in this coastal city, was keenly aware of how racial atrocities were largely unacknowledged by white locals until recent times.
Before delivering his prepared remarks, Singletary embraced Lauren Davila—a stranger until her 2022 discovery of an advertisement for the slave sale while she was a graduate student at the College of Charleston. A ProPublica reporter later connected this sale to John Ball Jr., a wealthy plantation operator, which led Singletary to trace his own family’s history to those sold, allowing further exploration of the fates of the individuals involved in the sale.
Prior to Davila’s finding, the largest known U.S. slave auction had been thought to occur in 1859 near Savannah, Georgia, with 436 individuals sold. The discovery of this Charleston auction prompted a local group to spearhead the creation of the historical marker, which Singletary was set to unveil.
“This is a big moment in representing ancestors,” Singletary began, noting the connection to his own family and the heritage that influenced the naming of his business, BrightMa Farms, located nearby.
Attorney Stephen Schmutz, who purchased the 24 Broad Street building in 1989 and has run his law firm there since, was unaware of its history as a site of a notorious slave auction firm. Reflecting on his upbringing in segregation and subsequent understanding of racial injustices, Schmutz applauded the efforts to present an honest account of Charleston’s past.
The new marker, about two feet tall, reads, “SLAVE AUCTIONS OF THE DOMESTIC SLAVE TRADE,” explaining that Jervey, Waring & White operated there from 1828 to 1840. This firm was part of a broader network of similar enterprises including banks and insurers.
The journey to the marker began in March 2022 when Davila, while working from home in Charleston, discovered the sale ad in the Charleston Courier dated Feb. 24, 1835. The ad mentioned the auction of 600 people, but offered few details. Further research led to the discovery of an earlier ad published on Feb. 6, 1835, detailing the sale as part of the estate auction for John Ball Jr., following his death, which included his plantations and the enslaved individuals.
Edward Ball, a descendant of John Ball Jr., published a bestselling book in 1998 titled “Slaves in the Family,” addressing family history and the brutal realities of slavery, contacting descendants of those enslaved by his ancestors, including Singletary.
Davila’s research was assisted by the College of Charleston’s Center for the Study of Slavery, alongside Margaret Seidler, a Charleston resident who uncovered slave traders in her own ancestry. Seidler, who wrote about her discoveries and reached out to fellow residents to promote a truthful account of Charleston’s slave history, collaborated with historian Bernard Powers to advocate for the marker.
“Truth can be a tonic,” Seidler remarked, emphasizing the importance of confronting historical realities.
