While in San Fracisco, I ended up seeing the movie 12 years a slave. Now I am also reading the book and have become completely obsessed with slavery in the us in the 1800's! There were actually running slave markets or pens in washington dc...very close to the capitol! I dont know why my mind is drawn to this terrible thing in history, but I do remember my grandfather telling me our ancestors were involved in the underground railroad. Im going to dc next month and will hopefully be able to find the buildings that used to be slave pens and take photos. Heres a good documentary I found about americas journey into slavery: Journey through slavery part 1