1-account 记录

Accounts of the cruelty of Hiring Day from records left by those who secured their freedom.

2-fateful 对未来有重大（负面）影响的

3-auction 拍卖会

On one of these fateful days, Jacob saw a mother lead seven children to the auction-block.

4-transatlantic 跨大西洋的

5-festivity 欢庆，庆典

The federal ban on the transatlantic slave trade went into effenct on New Year's Day in 1808, but the festivities were short-lived.

6-abolition 废除

7-commemoration 纪念

Different slave trade abolition commemoration took place between 1808 and 1831.

8-Emancipation Proclaimation 解放奴隶宣言

9-confederate 美国内战中的南方

The holiday became more associated with freedom than slavery when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclaimation, freeing slaves in confederate states on New Year's Day in 1863.