Slavery, the ownership and exploitation of human beings by human beings, was legally practiced in the United States from the time of the nation’s founding. Between 1619 and 1860, approximately 388,000 slaves landed on the American shores, brought to the country against their will. Counted as three-fifths of a human being under the Constitution, their bodies and the bodies of their children were brutally exploited as the engine of the new country’s economy. By 1860, there were four million slaves in the United States. From 1861 to 1865, Americans fought a civil war over the fate of slavery.

The conflict, which would take the lives of at least 620,000 soldiers, arose as the country expanded, prompting disagreements over whether slavery would exist in new territories and over the role of Black Americans in society, law, and politics. By 1820, northern states were on their way to abolishing slavery, but freed Blacks nevertheless faced significant prejudice. In the slaveholding states, where agriculture was the heart of the economy, enslaved people were owned as property and subjected to severe rights abuses.

Photography: Sophie Nahli Allison