A private home owned by William H. Williams, the Yellow House was
one of two notorious
slave holding pens in Washington, DC. The two-story home housed slaves temporarily in the basement; traders removed them to the yard on auction day for the convenience of buyers. A 12 foot high wall (originally wood, then brick) encircled the structure, guarded by ferocious dogs. Pens like this one operated until 1850, when the
slave trade was
abolished in Washington, DC. Williams sometimes held other prisoners here, as well, on a contract basis.