e for sale, to be sold in
private or public--young or old, males or females, children or
parents, husbands or wives. Every day, at ten o'clock, they were
exposed for sale. They had to be in trim for showing themselves
to the public for sale. Everyone's head had to be combed and
their faces washed, and those who were inclined to look dark and
rough were compelled to wash in greasy dish water in order to
make them look slick and lively. When spectators would come in
the yard the slaves were ordered out to form a line. They were
made to stand up straight and look as sprightly as they could;
and when they were asked a question they had to answer it as
promptly as they could, and try to induce the spectator to buy
them. If they failed to do this they were severely paddled after
the spectators were gone. The object for using the paddle in the
place of a lash was to conceal the marks which would be made by a
flogging. And the object for flogging under such circumstances is
to make the slave anxious to be sold."[3]

The Bibbs were eventually sold to a Red River planter with whom they
had a most miserable existence. For attending without leave a
religious meeting on a neighboring plantation Bibb was ordered to
receive five hundred lashes. To avoid this he took his wife and child
and they hid in a swamp. Dogs tracked them down and every slave on the
plantation witnessed the punishment that was given. Shortly afterwards
the planter sold Bibb to a party of southern sportsmen but refused to
sell the wife whom Bibb never saw again. The new owners quickly resold
him to an Indian from whom he managed to escape and successfully made
his way through the Indian Territory, Missouri and Ohio to Michigan
and Detroit.[4] He was never in the South again.

Bibb's arrival in Detroit came at what proved for him a most opportune
time, since it gave scope for his abilities to be utilized in the
anti-slavery cause, particularly in the State of Michigan. The Detroit
Anti-Slavery Society had been formed in 1837 and by the end of 1840
there were similar societies all over the State. Michigan, at this
time, was probably better organized and more united in sentiment than
any other of the Northwestern States. It was the era of the Liberty
Party whose platform "asserted the overmastering importance of the one
question of the existence of slavery, and the necessity of bringing