Fancy girls

A Fancy Girl, sometimes called a Fancy Maid, was a young woman of African descent with a lighter complexion sold with the intent of forced prostitution and concubinage. This sale was often referred to as the Fancy Trade within the larger history of Slavery in the United States.

History

Fancy girls were purchased and sold within the southern United States by slave traders such as Rice C. Ballard and Robert Jardine. The young women were often sold at auctions with other enslaved people, though it was common for the Fancy Girl to be sold in New Orleans. The young women were often sold at prices much higher than the average enslaved person was sold for. One bill of sale for the purchase of a young woman named Clary declared she was purchased for fifty pounds, or nearly five-thousand dollars in modern currency.

Fancy Girls were often kept either in the home, or in a special building on the slave owner’s property. The white wives of the slave owners and traders were not fond of these women, often blaming them for the choices of their husbands.

Notable Fancy Girls

Avenia White was a woman purchased by Rice C. Ballard and kept on his plantation for many years. Her importance to Ballard is highlighted by her continuous time living on his plantation, and travelling with him and his family during repeated moves.

White and Ballard had known each other for a long time when she, along with fellow Fancy Girl Susan Johnson, were freed and sent to live in Cincinnati by their previous owner Ballard. Cincinnati was highly populated with previously enslaved women and their mixed children, it functioned as somewhat of a safe-haven for those in situations similar to White and Johnson.