Warehouses Used in the Slave Trade
WAREHOUSES USED IN
THE SLAVE TRADE
Commerce Street was central to the operation of Montgomery's
slave trade. Enslaved people were marched in chains up the street
from the riverfront and railroad stations to the slave auction site
or to local slave depots. Warehouses were critical to the city's slave
trade. Slave trades confined enslaved people in warehouses until
they could be sold during slave auctions. At this location , 122
Commerce Street, was a very large warehouse owned by John
Murphy, who provided support to slave traders in the city and
built the Murphy House on Bibb Street. The Commerce Street
warehouse was used in the 1850s by slave traders like H. W. Farley,
who advertised the sale of enslaved children, such as a boy "about
fourteen, very likely and sprightly." The warehouse remained in
the hands of the owners involved in the slave trade until the end
of the Civil War.
EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE 2013