Sherrod Bryant was a wealthy land owner in Tennessee before the American Civil War and like many
wealthy land owners Bryant owned at least 22 slaves who worked his 700 acres of land, helped raise his hogs and
generally did what other slaves did during that era.
Like other slave owners, Bryant justified it by saying that if you had a lot of property, you
had to have slaves to cultivate it. There is one thing that was different about Bryant compared to most
slave owners. Sherrod Bryant was one of the wealthiest black men in Tennessee.