Atlantic slave traders are a distinct class of humanity, the worst violators of human rights and dignity the world has seen. It was slave traders, including these six Brookline men, who bought millions of Africans in order to sell them in the Americas. Trading in humans, though risky, could be immensely profitable.
With their wealth and the influence, not only did these slave traders benefit, but their descendants reaped unearned money and influence from that wealth. Institutions also benefitten from slave traders' donations, including the Perkins School for the Blind, Harvard University and the Mass General Hospital.
With their wealth and the influence, not only did these slave traders benefit, but their descendants reaped unearned money and influence from that wealth. Institutions also benefitten from slave traders' donations, including the Perkins School for the Blind, Harvard University and the Mass General Hospital.
Lancelott Talcott and Joseph Smith
In 1675, during King Philip’s War, these men bought seven Indigenous people from the Crown which wanted healthy young captives removed to the Caribbean. Two of the seven had wives: they were given the cruel choice to be enslaved in the Colony or to go to the Caribbean, enslaved. One wife went, probably believing she would be able to live with her husband. In the Carribean, those enslaved had short lives, as their life expectancy was generally seven years.
George Cabot
One of many slave traders often been described simply as a “successful merchant,” omitting the fact that he was a highly successful slave trader. Cabot became a US Senator in 1791. His signal accomplishment in Congress was introducing and passing the first Fugitive Slave Act in 1793. The wealth and political influence he had enriched and empowered his descendants, including Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., both also senators from Mass.. He lived in Brookline 1793-1803.[1]
Thomas H. Perkins
He was just nineteen when he began slave trading. Such a business brought him great wealth. He bought and sold enslaved people on speculation as well as on orders from customers. In Haiti, he received full reparations from France for all the property he had lost during the Haitian Revolution. He built a sumptuous home and gardens in Brookline in the style of a slave plantation house of the Caribbean. He was a friend of George Cabot, naming his second son, George Cabot Perkins. A number of years later, the two families “merged” when Perkins’ daughter married Cabot’s son.
Samuel Perkins
He served as Thomas Perkins’ partner, stationed in Haiti. His Brookline home also mimicked a Caribbean slave plantation. It still stands at 25 Cottage Street.
Lieut. John Aspinwall
He captained the slave ship the “Queen of Spain” working the slave trade in the Caribbean. He later captained two other ships which may also have been slaving vessels. A family history describes him as “very passionate…facetious, good company and always loose and exceedingly careless of his own and his children’s affairs.”[2]
He captained the slave ship the “Queen of Spain” working the slave trade in the Caribbean. He later captained two other ships which may also have been slaving vessels. A family history describes him as “very passionate…facetious, good company and always loose and exceedingly careless of his own and his children’s affairs.”[2]
Notes and Citations
[1] Another Brookline slave trader, George Cabot, was described by the Beverly Historical Society thus: “George Cabot was one of the “part owners of vessels that have a documented history of slave trading.” Salem News, July 19, 2022. (Cabot grew up in the house that is now the home of the Beverly Historical Society.)
[2] https://archive.org/stream/aspinwallgenealo00aspi/aspinwallgenealo00aspi_djvu.txt (accessed January 2022).
[2] https://archive.org/stream/aspinwallgenealo00aspi/aspinwallgenealo00aspi_djvu.txt (accessed January 2022).