Enslaved people’s records show a grim, but needed, look at what made Nashville | Opinion (Tennessean)

Tennessean: Enslaved people’s records show a grim, but needed, look at what made Nashville | Opinion. “The spreadsheet, more than 14,000 rows deep with data, might bore you – until the names stop you cold: Eliza, age 3; Peter, 11; Martha Foster, 1. After each, it reads ‘child of Albert and Betsy.’ On Nov. 1, 1852, it says, John Nichol sold Albert and Betsy, along with Eliza, Peter, Martha Foster and their other five children to Bradford Franklin. Davidson County legally recorded this enslaved family as property, bought and sold. Metro Archivist Ken Fieth has spent some 25 years compiling a searchable spreadsheet, available here. Transaction by transaction, it lists buyer, seller, enslaved person’s name, gender, age and relatives (if known).”