Slavery was once considered by plantation owners to be an essential element for success. Estimates suggest 10 to 20 million people were shipped and traded in America. When importing was banned, an inter-state business of public slave trading emerged. The practice was outlawed in 1856, giving rise to private auction galleries like the Old Slave Mart in Charleston, South Carolina. Once called Ryan’s Mart, it is now a museum and the only slave gallery left in the state.
