Sonequa Martin-Green Instagram – 🖤 • Our Black History • 🖤 _______________________________ Enslaved people were money. Their bodies and labor were the capital that fueled the country’s founding and wealth. But many also had money. Enslaved people actively participated in the informal and formal market economy. They saved money earned from overwork, from hiring themselves out, and through independent economic activities with banks, local merchants, and their enslavers. Elizabeth Keckley, a skilled seamstress whose dresses for Abraham Lincoln’s wife are displayed in Smithsonian museums, supported her enslaver’s entire family and still earned enough to pay for her freedom. Free and enslaved market women dominated local marketplaces, including in Savannah and Charleston, controlling networks that crisscrossed the countryside. They ensured fresh supplies of fruits, vegetables, and eggs for the markets, as well as a steady flow of cash to enslaved people. Whites described these women as “loose” and “disorderly” to criticize their actions as unacceptable behavior for women, but white people of all classes depended on them for survival. _______________________________ Shout out to vox.com for the write-up. I’ve really enjoyed highlighting our history, even though I didn’t even scratch the surface. Honored and proud. Thank you for coming on the journey with me. ✊🏽🖤 #happyblackhistorymonth