What Really Happened on Slave Auction Blocks For 246 years (1619-1865), slave auctions were legal American commerce in cities from Richmond to New Orleans. Enslaved people were stripped naked in public squares while buyers examined their teeth like horses, felt their muscles like livestock, and inspected every part of their bodies with no regard for humanity. According to 19th-century slave narratives documented by the National Humanities Center, buyers "pulled mouths open to see teeth, pinched