Published 16 hours ago • loading... • Updated 16 hours ago

Minnesota's early history with slavery and ginseng

During the 1850s, Minnesota experienced a lucrative 'green gold' ginseng rush, attracting laborers while simultaneously masking the presence of enslaved people brought from the South to work in regional drying houses.
Brothers Edward and Joseph Chilton exploited this market by bringing enslaved people from Virginia to Wayzata, Minnesota, to process roots, a practice Professor Eric Dregni explained was blatant and widely shunned.
Local diggers earned up to $2 daily—equivalent to about $80—by hauling out 20 pounds every three hours, while warehouse ledgers revealed the operation exported 203,000 pounds of ginseng worth about $7.8 million today.
Despite the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibiting slavery, Dred and Hariet Scott were held as property at a fort, later suing for their freedom after a decade.
Ultimately, the Scotts secured freedom through Taylor Blow, and while their case did not start the Civil War, it bolstered the new Republican Party, eventually helping elect Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

Insights by Ground AI

14 Articles

Post Bulletin

+13 Reposted by 13 other sources

Center

Minnesota's early history with slavery and ginseng

MANKATO, Minn. — In the 1850s, Minnesota struck green gold. A panacea for many ills, wild ginseng, also known as American ginseng or the so-called "green gold," brought in people from around the nation to the territory now known as Minnesota. North of the Mason Dixon Line, a supposed safe haven, the lure of profit didn’t escape the eyes of southern slave holders. A pair of opportunists, the Chilton brothers, Edward and Joseph, thought they could…

16 hours ago·Cherokee County, United States

Read Full Article

Think freely.Subscribe and get full access to Ground NewsSubscriptions start at $9.99/year