Center Market Slave Auctions

In 1797, President George Washington designated a site for a public marketplace between 7th and 9th on Constitution Avenue, where Center Market was a prominent market hall selling meats, fish, vegetables and flowers in Washington, D.C. until 1931. Before the slave trade was outlawed in the District of Columbia in 1850, slave auctions were conducted on its premises. On the prominent location next to the Mall on Louisiana Avenue between the White House and Capitol Hill, human beings were sold and bought alongside meats and vegetables. Nearby were two other notable slave auction sites, Robey’s Tavern and The Williams Pen (The Yellow House). Hotels in the area incorporated cells in their courtyards and basements which were used to hold enslaved persons. Some African American vendors that traded in Center Market after 1862 were formerly enslaved themselves. Center Market was closed on January 1, 1931 after more than 130 years of operation.


References and Further Reading
Jackson, Maurice. “Washington, DC: From the Founding of a Slaveholding Capital to a Center of Abolitionism.” Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage 2, no.1 (2013): 38-64.