Sale 2471 - Printed & Manuscript African Americana, March 29, 2018

11 c   (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) Walker, Moses. Letter from an enslaved Georgia man to his mother at another plantation. Autograph Letter Signed, 2 pages on one sheet, 9 3 / 4 x 7 3 / 4 inches; light foxing, a few small ink blots, wear and slight loss at folds but completely legible. Hootenville, GA, 18 January 1854 [12,000/18,000] Any letters by enslaved people are scarce, and those few that exist are often written to their master. This poignant letter was written from a young man to his mother, seven years after he had been sold further south from North Carolina to Georgia. It’s remarkable enough that both mother and son had acquired enough education to carry on a correspondence; Walker’s spelling and penmanship are probably somewhat above the average for a typical white man of the period. The content is even more remarkable. Mixed in with the family pleasantries, Moses is attempting to negotiate the sale of his own brother. He has actively encouraged both his former and his present masters to sell his brother Henry down south, and paints a rather positive picture of life on his current plantation, perhaps to ease Henry’s anxiety over being sold. From doing side work, Moses has managed to set some money aside and offers to set his brother up with $30 in savings. In conclusion, he tells his mother that he is married, and that her new grandson has since died. “Jack and myself is doing well. We are both well. We are clearing in the new ground. We have been clear- ing for the last three weeks. I keep up with any of the men, and one thing I can’t be beaten cutting small grain. We have had a bad crop year. My master allows his servants to make crops for our selves. I made two hundred and sixty pounds of cotton and the reason that I don’t sell it is that I am wating to get 30 dollars for it. . . . You say that Henry is to be sold, and my Master says that if he is as healthy as I was when I