"Servant" slave hire badge. Charleston, South Carolina: Workshop of John Joseph Lafar, by city contract, 1817. The front is clearly struck "CHARLESTON / No. 213 / SERVANT / 1817". Lafar hallmark to verso. 2 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.

Fine condition with a pleasing patina, some verdigris. The badge features a punched hole for adherence. 

A Charleston slave badge from the last period of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. This example was issued for a “Servant," typically a designation used to describe an enslaved person engaged in general labor or housework.

Slavery was a foundational element of life in South Carolina from its colonial establishment. It was stated in the 1669 Fundamental Constitutions that "Every freeman of Carolina, shall have absolute power and authority over his negro slave". By 1776, the Lowcountry was one of the wealthiest regions in the world, thanks to enslavement. Nine of America's wealthiest ten people lived in Charleston, where the population was over 70% enslaved Black people. 

Charleston was North America's largest Transatlantic Slave port of entry with over 40% of kidnapped Africans trafficked through Charleston harbor - nearly 150,000 individuals. Between 1803 and 1807, some 50,000 enslaved Africans were imported until the trade was finally cut off in 1808 by federal law. This badge dates from this late period of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Charleston slave badges are sobering visual evidence of a system for hiring out enslaved men and women that was unique to that city between 1800-1865. During this period, the local government mandated that enslaved people wear or otherwise display badges like this when they were hired out by their enslavers (note the small hole at the top center of this example). The city issued the badges in return for a fee paid by slaveholders. The objects were then inscribed with an occupation, year of issue, and registration number. When worn, the badge gave its wearer some freedom of movement around Charleston. That said, the wages earned by a hired-out slave typically belonged to their owners.

Few objects are as profoundly impactful as a Charleston slave badge. This example, without any doubt, was worn by an enslaved person while they were hired out to work - likely for the financial benefit of their enslaver.

[African American History, Black Americana, Frederick Douglass, Abolition, Emancipation, Slavery, Slave, Abolitionist, John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Union, Confederate]