Description:So were any people directly bought and sold as slaves in Birmingham?
Although we cannot be completely certain, the answer in at least a few cases would appear to be yes (although the details are few). For instance, the above image is an advertisement for the sale of a ‘Creole Slave’ and a ‘Negroe Boy’ in the Aris’s Birmingham Gazette newspaper, 11 Nov 1771. Notice how the sale of the slave is ranked alongside other material objects, such as property estates, and even a 'narrow wheeled wagon'. So far, however, few such horrifying adverts have been discovered in the Birmingham press. More research could be done in this area to see if this advert was a notorious and unique example.