Old Slave Mart Museum brings to life dark history of Charleston (Source live5news.com)

Walk into the Old Slave Mart Museum in downtown and you will be standing in a place that holds a dark history of Charleston and America. “You’re going to step foot on sacred ground. The museum itself is situated in an historic alleyway that back in the 1850′s and 60′s was used as an auction location to sell people of African descent,” museum research coordinator Rachel Campbell said. The Old Slave Mart was originally part of a slave market known as Ryan’s Slave Mart, which covered a large enclosed lot between Chalmers and Queen streets, according to the museum’s website.

The building sits along Chalmers Street, not far from the Four Corners of Law.

According to the museum’s website, “throughout the first half of the 19th century, slaves brought into Charleston were sold at public auctions held on the north side of the Exchange and Provost building.”

After the city prohibited public slave auctions in 1856, enclosed slave markets sprang up along Chalmers, State, and Queen streets. One such market was Ryan’s Mart, established by City Councilman and broker Thomas Ryan and his business partner James Marsh.”

More than 100 years after the end of slavery, the atmosphere of the building still evokes a somber mood. But many visitors leave with a feeling of hope because of all that descendants of Africans have achieved in America.