Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A New England Abolitionist Visits A St. Louis Slave Trader, Kenneth H. Winn

The Confluence (2009-2020)

When the crisis in Kansas over allowing—or banning—slavery in the territory erupted in 1854, it became a symbol of the cause for both southerners and northern abolitionists. Noted abolitionist Thomas Wentworth Higginson traveled to Kansas in 1856. On his way, he stopped in St. Louis and visited a slave auction. Kenneth Winn introduces Higginson’s account, reprinted here.