Anthony Griffin set out to answer a couple of simple research questions: How many auction houses sold enslaved people in Galveston, Texas? Where were they?
The result of that search is The Water Cries, a powerful, provocative book.
It convinced me that the systematic enslavement of people was not just a part of Galveston’s economy. It was the basis of Galveston’s economy. The real wealth in Texas’s historic seaport was in enslaved people. Human beings were treated as commodities. They were sold, insured, mortgaged.
The dollar amounts were too big for Texas. Some of the financing came from New York. The wealth based on that awful business was staggering.
Wealth can be influential, and the influence of powerbrokers who made fortunes before the Civil War persisted for generations. Griffin meticulously shows how this story was whitewashed from the history of the city.
I was a newspaperman in Galveston for 25 years. It’s a place I dearly love. I dearly wish that I’d had a part in bringing this story to light. But I’m glad Anthony Griffin persisted and wrote this book.
The Water Cries: Uncovering the Slave Auction Houses of Galveston, Texas will hurt you emotionally. But facing hard truth can be rewarding. I came away with new hope.
I can see steps we could all take toward a more honest account of our shared history. I don’t see reconciliation, atonement or answers to all the country’s problems. But I do see steps forward.
If you’re not from Galveston, you might wonder why this book would interest you. It’s about slavery and the awful history that still poisons this country. Lessons learned in one community apply to the whole country.
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