**Historic Marker Unveiled in Charleston, SC, Acknowledging Nation’s Largest Known Slave Auction**

On a bright morning mid-October, Harold Singletary found himself in front of a building draped in teal in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. As an African American businessman, he never anticipated standing here for such a profound purpose. This street, familiar through countless walks, now bore new significance.

Singletary was there to address a group gathered to unveil a historical marker. The marker reveals that the restored antebellum building behind him once housed an auction firm that, in 1835, conducted the largest known domestic slave sale in United States history. In total, 600 enslaved people were auctioned off.

This new marker is significant; the streets of Charleston, pivotal to the slave trade, often conceal their dark past from the average passerby. Singletary, who grew up in a city that was once the nation’s busiest slave port, noted that racial atrocities had long been ignored by white residents until recent years.

Before his speech, Singletary approached and hugged Lauren Davila. She was the College of Charleston graduate student who, in 2022, discovered an ad for this historical slave sale. Last year, a ProPublica journalist traced the sale back to the wealthy plantation operator John Ball Jr. This connection allowed Singletary to link his own relatives to those sold in this auction, paving the way for further research into the fates of these 600 individuals.

Before Davila’s discovery, the largest known slave auction in the U.S. took place in 1859 near Savannah, Georgia, where 436 people were sold. A small group then worked to establish the historical marker Singletary was about to unveil. Among those sold by the auction firm was the ancestor after whom Singletary named his business, BrightMa Farms, located just minutes away.

Attorney Stephen Schmutz, who owns the building where the marker is placed, attended the event. When Schmutz purchased the building in 1989, he had no knowledge of its grim past involving slave auctions. Since rising to awareness during the Civil Rights movement, Schmutz has represented families of victims of racial violence, such as those affected by the 2015 Emanuel AME Church massacre.

The marker, about two feet tall, states, “SLAVE AUCTIONS OF THE DOMESTIC SLAVE TRADE.” It explains that the auction firm Jervey, Waring & White operated there from 1828 to 1840 and was part of a network that included banks and insurance companies.

The journey to this revelation began in March 2022, when Davila, now a doctoral student at Tulane University, was examining old newspaper archives. She came across an ad dated February 24, 1835, briefly announcing the sale of 600 enslaved individuals. A ProPublica reporter later found a more detailed ad from February 6, 1835, showing that the sale was part of the estate auction for John Ball Jr., who had passed away the previous year.

Margaret Seidler, a white Charlestonian, supported Davila’s research. Discovering slave traders in her family tree, Seidler has since worked to disclose these findings, urging others to do the same. She collaborated with Bernard Powers, founding director of the College of Charleston’s Center for the Study of Slavery, to establish this historical marker.

“America has to face some hard facts,” Singletary said at the event, underscoring the importance of acknowledging these truths to change narratives and honor the memory of those who suffered through such inhumane practices.