Slaves/slave owners by Stephanie Moens

            According to book authors Cosner and Shannon who did extensive research on this subject, slavery was in full-swing in the state of Louisiana and in New Orleans. The warm climate made Louisiana’s sugar cane season an exceptionally long one, and the work was much harder than if cotton were grown. Many slaves died because of the harsh work and being mistreated. This made the demand for replacement slaves very high in the New Orleans area. Conveniently enough New Orleans is a port city, and that made the import of slaves easier (see the section on Pirates).

            Some New Orleans slave owners were black themselves. New Orleans was unique in the fact there was a large free black population that lived there and held an influential position in the city’s society (see travel guide section on Treme). Under the le Code Noir (the Black Code), free blacks could own property, including human property. An interesting illustration of this kind of life is included in the book The River Between Us by Richard Peck. It is a historical fiction piece that tells the story of a free woman of color from New Orleans who migrates during the Civil War passing as white and whose sister poses as her slave. 

New Orleans saw one of the largest slave revolts in U.S. history in 1811. It was led by a Haitian slave named Charles Delondes who organized about 500 slaves using military-style tactics to war against the city. They pillaged and burned plantations (and gained recruits) along the way to New Orleans. They held out against the militia for eleven days before the uprising was crushed. You can read the original newspaper article covering this event at http://blackusa.com/charles-deslondes/. It is interesting to read an article that describes this man as property and while going into detail about the white plantation owners who were killed, don’t go into detail about the immediate beheadings of the rebels or the decapitated heads being placed on poles lining the roads for miles (McKissack and McKissack 69-70). 

Memorial statues of slave children sitting on porch of actual slave cabin on former Louisiana plantation

Works Cited

Cosner, Victoria and Shannon, Lorelei. Mad Madame Lalaurie: New Orleans Most Famous Murderess Revealed. Charleston: The History Press, 2011.

McKissack, Patricia C. & McKissack, Fredrick L. Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1996. Print.