10. Isaac Franklin
Isaac Franklin co-founded Franklin & Armfield, the largest and most infamous slave-trading firm in the United States. His staggering fortune was built by orchestrating the forced migration of thousands of enslaved people from the Upper South to the Deep South—a process marked by cruelty and heartbreak. Despite the scale of his operations, Franklin’s name rarely appears in American history textbooks. His story stands as a stark illustration of how individuals profited immensely from the commodification and suffering of others. Source
