Honoring those who were sold, forgotten

ASHEBORO – Despite the Juneteenth rain, the local NAACP led a march to the Historic Randolph County Courthouse to honor recently uncovered names of people sold or bartered into slavery in Randolph County dating from the 1700s to before the Civil War. 

Some 1,200 of those names were in plain sight for all to see on a  100-foot-by-6-foot banner displayed on Thursday, Friday and again on Monday in front of the Civil War monument standing on courthouse grounds.

The banner was displayed at the Courthouse as part of this year’s local Juneteenth events drew visitors from this and other counties to scan the names listed, as well as other info — all of the enslaved listed were either bought, sold, given or treated as property. 

For instance, not only was the woman listed below bought at about age 19 but also all of her future children via the 1796 term “and all of her future increase.” 

All of the information plus a look at the history of the project can be found at slavedeeds.org. B