I found this brief article in the Clarkesville, Tennessee Jeffersonian for November 2nd, 1853, and present it to you as a picture worthy of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.

“Seven or eight negroes marched down Franklin Street last Monday, joined together by heavy log chains. Two of them, apparently perfectly contented with their situation, discoursed sweet music from two old dirty looking violins, as they marched along. The spectacle would have delighted Mrs. Uncle Tom Stowe, and drawn tears from the eyes of the tender hearted abolitionist.”

We can almost hear that music.