Shackles
Shackles, ca. pre-Emancipation
Courtesy of the Meek-Eaton Black Archives Research Center and Museum
These types of shackles were used to restrain enslaved individuals who were being transported from one region to another. There is no key to the locking mechanism. Cotton was the primary commercial product produced by the labor of enslaved people in territorial Florida. By 1860, enslaved labor produced 95% of all cotton in the state. Courtesy of the Meek-Eaton Black Archives Research Center and Museum
