cultural concerns
concepts
To limit the amount of information that slave traders in the antebellum slave market had to send, the traders often categorized slaves into packages, perhaps a dozen, that were distinguished by particular characteristics: extra men, number one men, second-rate or ordinary girls, tall field fellows, young and lively, and so forth. Out of this habit came the term and practice of “playing the dozens,” denoting an individual as having less importance. [Source: Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology; Dozens]
dozens