Slave Badge
date: label: Date made
content: 1836
notes: label: Description
content: Little squares of copper once hung around the necks of certain slaves in Charleston, South Carolina, indicating that those who wore them had the city's permission to accept work for hire. Today, Charleston's slave-hire badges objectify a time when people who were not free were licensed with tags that gave them the right and the freedom to work.
label: Description
content: From 1783 to 1790 and again from 1800 to 1865, Charleston responded to the concerns of skilled white workers and imposed regulations requiring slaves hired out by their masters to be identified with tags indicating that they not only had their owners' approval to work in the city, but that they were to receive wages significantly lower than those demanded by whites. The wages such a hired slave did receive were split between the master and the slave.
label: Description
content: Each tag is stamped with the city name, the year of issue, the slave's occupation, and a license number. Charleston charged a fee for each tag issued, and maintained detailed badge records at the city treasury. The trades varied from porter and servant to mechanic, carpenter, fisherman, and fruiterer. Charleston slave hire badges also survive in private collections and at the Charleston Museum.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: South Carolina, Charleston
label: place used
content: United States: South Carolina, Charleston
topic: label: Subject
content: Slavery
label: Subject
content: Municipal Government
label: Subject
content: African American
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ethnic
label: See more items in
content: Work
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1993.0503.01
label: catalog number
content: 1993.0503.01
label: accession number
content: 1993.0503
objectType: label: Object Name
content: tag, slave
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal, iron (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 3.1 cm x 4.8 cm; x 1 1/4 in x 1 7/8 in