Slave traders

More from Dr. Tom Clark’s A History of Kentucky (Jesse Stuart Foundation, 1988):

William M. Pratt, a Baptist minister, recorded in his diary the circumstances surrounding the sale of George Dupuy, the colored minister of Pleasant Green Baptist Church in Lexington. George was the slave and property of the late Reverend Craig, who died in 1847, but whose estate was not settled until 1856. George was permitted to preach at the Pleasant Green Church after Reverend Craig’s death, but when the estate was advertised for sale, he was advertised also. Members of George’s church persuaded Reverend Pratt to buy their preacher at the sale, the Negroes promising to pay him in weekly installments. An agreement was finally made between deacons of the white and colored Baptist Churches as to conditions of the purchase of the slave-minister. The white deacons finally consented to purchase George, provided the price did not exceed $800. However, upon examination of the colored man he was found to be worth more than the $800 agreed upon. The auctioneer was interviewed on the night before the sale, when the deacons argued until nearly daybreak before they could persuade him to sacrifice the man for the stipulated price. Taylor, the auctioneer, finally came to terms, but before he could “knock” George off at $800, a Negro trader ran the price up to $830, a price the white deacons paid. This colored minister was saved from the southern trade, and his flock made a journey every Monday to the Pratt residence to deposit the collections of the preceding Sunday. Unfortunately for his congregation, Dupuy was paid out just in time to be freed by law. [pp 200-201]

Hard not to note in this passage that while William Pratt is “Reverend,” George Dupuy is the “colored preacher” and “George.” I don’t think Dr. Clark was racist but this book is 20 years old and relies on sources that are 40 and more years old and we have learned in that time to be more sensitive in our language.

On the other hand, it just may be an academic prejudice. Pratt, who kept extensive diaries now housed at the University of Kentucky, was presumably literate, Dupuy was presumably not.

I don’t know who this “late Reverend Craig” is, but if he died in 1847, he cannot have been Elijah Craig, who died in 1808.

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