ACADIAN-CAJUN-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: RE:100,000 Louisiana Slaves Article
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 15:16:45 EDT

Hello,
Did anyone happen to get a copy of "Identity Restored to 100,000 Louisiana
Slaves" article? I was wondering if it listed the names EDLAND, EDELAN or
RICHE born c. 1830's? I haven't been able to find any info on them. And was
told to check under "Free persons of color" or they may be Indian. Thank-you
for any help you might be able to share.


In a message dated 7/31/00 7:12:39 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

<< --------------------
X-Message: #1
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 13:14:35 EDT
From:
To:
Subject: 100,000 Louisiana slaves identified

Listers--
Copyright laws being what they are, I'll resist the urge to post the fron=
t=20
page article in today's (Sunday) New York Times entitled "Identity Restor=
ed=20
to 100,00 Louisiana Slaves." But if you don't already know about this, D=
O=20
get online ASAP (today, because tomorrow you won't have access to it with=
out=20
paying) and read this article by David Firestone: =ABnewyorktimes.com=BB

Essentially, Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, native of New Orleans who formerly=
=20
taught Caribbean and African-Latin history for many years at Rutgers=20
University, spent 15 years researching slave transactions in the records =
of=20
Louisiana courthouses (written primarily in French and Spanish), and also=
=20
researching material in the archives in Spain and Texas. She put the=20
information into a searchable database, which she has just published on C=
D=20
ROM entitled "Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy."=20

"Because the French and Spanish proprietors of Louisiana kept far more=20
detailed records than their British counterparts at slave ports on the At=
lanti
c coast, the records show not only the names of the slaves, but also thei=
r=20
birthplaces in Africa, their skills, their health, and in many cases a=20
description of their personality and degree of rebelliousness." =20

It is described as "groundbreaking work" by historians. "The disc has am=
azed=20
historians of slavery and genealogists with the breadth of its informatio=
n=20
about the slaves." ETC. Lots of additional information that will bear on=
=20
Acadian and creole families alike, many of them slave-owners.

She started this in the courthouse at New Roads, in Pointe Coupee Parish,=
=20
where she found a "cache of documents set down by French-speaking notarie=
s in=20
the 1770s that showed the ethnicity of hundreds of slaves." She initiall=
y=20
got into this research while writing another book, published in 1992: =20
Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture i=
n=20
the 18th Century.

Many of you will definitely want to take a look.

Claire BETTAG >>

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