New research exposes the role of women in America’s slave trade

Research published last month shatters that narrative. Economists at Ohio State University analysed data from the New Orleans slave market, the biggest of them all, to quantify women’s involvement. They found that women were buyers or sellers in 30% of all transactions and 38% of those that involved female slaves. By matching names to census records they show that it was not just single or widowed women who dealt in slaves because they lacked husbands; married ones did, too.