Episode 176: Daina Ramey Berry, The Value of the Enslaved from Womb to Grave

by Holly WhiteMarch 6, 2018

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What did it mean to be a person and to also be a commodity in early America?

Daina Ramey Berry, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas, Austin and author of The Price For Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation, takes us behind the scenes of her research so we can explore how early Americans valued and commodified enslaved men, women, and children.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Episode Summary

Daina Ramey Berry, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas, Austin and author of The Price For Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation, takes us behind the scenes of her research so we can explore how early Americans valued and commodified enslaved men, women, and children.

As we go behind the scenes of Daina’s research, we discover the prices early Americans ascribed to enslaved men, women, and children; The relationship between age and an enslaved person’s economic value; And, how the end of the transatlantic slave trade and the rise of the domestic slave trade impacted the values of enslaved people.

What You’ll Discover

Relationship between age and an enslaved person’s economic value

Why the valuation of enslaved people starts with women & their unborn children
The prices early Americans ascribed to enslaved men, women, and children
The end of the African Slave Trade to the United States
Words early Americans used to describe enslaved people
The domestic slave trade and how it worked
Why the last four decades of the 18th century were crucial for assessing the values early Americans ascribed to enslaved women
Market and appraised value of enslaved people
Experiences of enslaved children
Monetary values placed on enslaved children
Monetary values placed on middle and older aged enslaved people
Valuations and the purchase of enslaved people’s freedom
The domestic cadaver trade
Insurance policies for slaveholders on enslaved people

Links to People, Places, and Publications

Daina Ramey Berry
The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation
“Swing the Sickle for the Harvest Is Ripe”: Gender and Slavery in Antebellum Georgia
Robert William Fogel, Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery
Stanley L. Engerman, Slavery, Emancipation, and Freedom: Comparative Perspectives
Steven Deyle, Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in American Life
Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market
Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Sharon Ann Murphy, Investing in Life: Insurance in Antebellum America
Nell Painter, Soul, Murder, and Slavery

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Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what might have happened if the United States Constitution had not abolished the African slave trade in 1806? How would the continuation of the transatlantic trade have impacted the development of the domestic slave trade and the experiences of enslaved women over the course of the 19th century?