Carolyn B. Smith
Atlanta, GA
Shugan Ransome Davis (“Sugar”) was my great great great grandfather. He was from Halifax, NC but moved in 1824 to Alabama and established a plantation in Suggsville. His will is from 1857. When I saw it, I was struck by the value of an adult male slave when compared to an acre of land. No wonder no one wanted to give up slaves! They were by far the most valuable part of his estate. Sugar’s family paid for the system: he had 5 sons and during the Civil War, 3 were killed, one had a leg blown off and one drowned right after the war. I am decended from his daughter, Lucretia. It is very hard to imagine “owning” another human being now, yet human trafficking exists and it is slavery.
