attacking Charles Sumner, who had spoken against slavery two days earlier •
Jacques Baby (1731–1789), French Canadian fur trader, slaveholder, and father of
James Baby. •
James Baby (1763–1833), prominent landowner, slaveholder, and official in
Upper Canada. •
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (1971–2019), self-proclaimed
Caliph of the
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), he kept several sex slaves. •
Adriana Bake (1724–1787), wife of the
Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, her foster children freed her slaves after her death. •
Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475–1519), Spanish explorer and conquistador, he enslaved the indigenous people he encountered in Central America. •
Emanoil Băleanu (–1862),
Wallachian politician, he enslaved
Romani people on his estates. In 1856 he signed a letter protesting the abolition of slavery in Wallachia. •
Elizabeth Swain Bannister (–1828), free woman of colour who owned 76 slaves in
Berbice. •
Hayreddin Barbarossa (1478–1546), Ottoman corsair and admiral who enslaved the population of
Corfu. •
William Barksdale (1821–1863), U.S. congressman and white supremacist, he enslaved 36 people by 1860 and vigorously defended the institution of slavery. •
Alexander Barrow (1801–1846), U.S. senator and Louisiana planter. •
George Washington Barrow (1807–1866), Congressman and U.S. minister to Portugal, who purchased 112 enslaved people in Louisiana. •
Robert Ruffin Barrow (1798–1875), American plantation owner who owned more than 450 slaves and a dozen plantations. •
William Beckford (1709–1770), politician and twice
Lord Mayor of London. He inherited about 3,000 enslaved people from his brother Peter. •
William Thomas Beckford (1760–1844), writer and collector. He inherited about 3,000 enslaved people from his father. •
Zabeau Bellanton (), free woman of color and slave trader in
Saint Domingue. •
Judah P. Benjamin (1811–1884), Secretary of State for the
Confederate States of America, a U.S. Senator from Louisiana, and a vocal supporter of slavery. •
Charles Bent (1799–1847), American trader and first Territorial Governor of
New Mexico during the United States occupation of New Mexico during the
Mexican-American War. Bent owned
Charlotte and Dick Green. Charles's brother
William freed the Greens after Dick fought with the posse that avenged Charles's assassination during the
Taos Revolt. •
Thomas H. Benton (1782–1858), American senator from
Missouri. •
George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher who purchased several enslaved Africans to work on his plantation in
Rhode Island. •
John M. Berrien (1781–1856), U.S. Senator from
Georgia who argued that slavery "lay at the foundation of the Constitution" and that slaves "constitute the very foundation of your union". •
Antoine Bestel (1766–1852), lawyer from France who migrated to Mauritius where he owned at least 122 slaves. •
James G. Birney (1792–1857), an attorney and planter who freed his slaves and became an abolitionist. •
James Blair (–1841), British MP who owned sugar plantations in
Demerara. •
Simón Bolívar (1783–1830), wealthy slave owner who became a Latin American independence leader and eventually an abolitionist. •
Shadrach Bond (1773–1832), 1st
Governor of Illinois, he enslaved people on his farm in
Monroe County. •
Joseph Boucher de Niverville (1715–1804), military officer in
New France, he enslaved a
Cree woman named
Marie. •
James Bowie (–1836), namesake of the Bowie knife, soldier at the Alamo, and slave trader. •
Benjamin Boyd (1801–1851), Scottish entrepreneur and slave trader thought to be Australia's first "
blackbirder". •
Joseph Brant (1747–1803),
Mohawk military and political leader. •
William Brattle (1706–1776), American politician and military officer, he was identified as a slave owner in a 2022 Harvard investigation into that university's
legacy of slavery. •
John C. Breckinridge (1821–1875), 14th Vice President of the United States and
Confederate Secretary of War. He enslaved people until at least 1857. •
Simone Brocard (), a "free colored" woman of
Saint-Domingue, a slave trader, and one of the wealthiest women of that French colony. •
Preston Brooks (1819–1857), veteran of the Mexican–American War and U.S. Congressman from South Carolina. A slaveholder, he beat abolitionist senator
Charles Sumner nearly to death after the latter spoke against slavery in the Senate. •
James Brown (1766–1835), U.S. Minister to France, U.S. Senator, and sugarcane planter, some of whose slaves were involved in the
1811 German Coast uprising in what is now Louisiana. •
Chang and Eng Bunker (1811–1874), Siamese twins who became successful entertainers in the United States. •
John Burbidge (–1812),
Nova Scotia soldier, land owner, judge, and politician, he freed his slaves in 1790. •
Pierce Butler (1744–1822), U.S. Founding Father and plantation owner. •
William Orlando Butler (1791–1880), American general and politician, he advocated for
gradual emancipation and enslaved people himself. ==C==