Object description

Bruin's Slave Jail is a two-story brick building in Alexandria, Virginia, from which slave trader Joseph Bruin imprisoned slaves. Bruin's company, called Bruin and Hill, transported captured Africans to slave markets in the Southern United States. At the start of the American Civil War, Bruin was captured and imprisoned in Washington, D.C. His property, including the slave jail, was confiscated by U.S. Marshals and used as the Fairfax County Courthouse until 1865. All that remains today of the entire compound is a brick, two-story structure that housed the slaves. Bruin's home, kitchen, and wash-house no longer remain.