Contains strong language.
A History of the United States in 100 Objects
100 Objects #12: “Slave Cloth”
7 August 2026
Available for over a year
In 1821, two Rhode Island brothers went looking for buyers for their woolen fabric, and stumbled into a lucrative, captive market: Southern slave plantations. Roman Mars and historian Seth Rockman trace the strange life of so-called "Slave cloth" — a textile category defined by nothing but who it was worn by. Along the way, they uncover how enslaved people shaped the very cloth used to control them, and how New England manufacturers convinced themselves they were the good guys.
Host: Roman Mars
Producers: Priscilla Alabi, Brenna Daldorph, Isaac Fisher, Ellie Lightfoot
EPs: Annie Brown, Courtney Harrell, Kathy Tu