Personas de varias clases y colores : free people of color in Spanish New Orleans, 1769-1803

398 Pages·1991·13.9 MB·English

by  Hanger, Kimberly S

PERSONAS DE VARIAS CLASES Y COLORES:
FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR IN SPANISH NEW ORLEANS, 1769-1803
By
KIMBERLY S. HANGER
A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
1991
Copyright 1991
by
Kimberly S. Hanger
. ,
To the memory of my mother,
Marillyn Gloria Wells Stuckenschneider
for her constant assistance,
encouragement and love
,
.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As I reach the end of a road long-traveled and the
embarkation point of another, I have countless persons and
institutions to thank. To start, research for this study
was in large part supported by generous grants from the
Program for Cultural Cooperation Between Spain's Ministry of
Culture and United States' Universities, the Spain-Florida
Alliance, the University of Florida Department of History,
and the American Historical Association (through an Albert
J. Beveridge Grant for Research in the History of the
Western Hemisphere)
Several individuals helped to guide and shape my work
and hopefully will continue to do so. First, my committee
chair, Professor Murdo J. MacLeod, has provided advice,
criticism, encouragement, and understanding throughout my
graduate studies and preparation of this dissertation, an
arduous process indeed. His thoughtful insights are greatly
appreciated. Special thanks also to the members of my
—
committee Professors Lyle N. McAlister, David Bushnell,
—
Kermit L. Hall, and Hernan Vera for their contributions.
Others who assisted me over the years include Professors
Cheryll Ann Cody, Jane Landers, David Geggus, Jeffrey D.
(iv)
. .
Needell, Glaucio Soares, James Amelang, Stephen Webre,
Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Paul F. Lachance, Robert MaCaa, Paul
Hoffman, Larry R. Gerlach, W. Dirk Raat, and Philip C.
Sturges. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Professor
Ronald G. Coleman and the late Professor Roger M. Haigh for
introducing me to my eighteenth-century friends in New
Orleans and providing a foundation for my scholarly
endeavors
With funds from the above-mentioned institutions I was
able to conduct extensive research at archives in both Spain
and the United States. I wish to thank the staffs of the
Archivo General de Indias, Archivo General de Simancas,
Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections at
Louisiana State University, Center for Louisiana Studies,
Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Loyola (New Orleans)
University Archives, New Orleans Public Library, Orleans
Parish Notarial Archives, Archives of the Archdiocese of New
Orleans, The Historic New Orleans Collection, and the
Louisiana Historical Center of the Louisiana State Museum.
I am especially indebted to the services of Mr. James F.
Sefcik, Ms. Kathryn Page, Dr. Carl A. Brasseaux, Dr. Wilbur
Menary, Ms. Sally Reeves, Dr. Alfred Lemmon, and Mr. John
Barbry
Finally, and most important, I would like to thank my
family and friends for their material and mental support.
Colleagues Jane Landers and Jeremy Stahl gave so much of
(v)
their time to help me through the red tape that we all must
endure in graduate school. My research and travels in Spain
would not have been as educational or entertaining without
the company of fellow graduate student Karen Hall Zetrouer
and my sister Julie. My father, mother, sister, brother,
and in-laws furnished much love and assistance which I can
never hope to repay. Special thanks go to my parents for
instilling in me the belief that I could do and be whatever
I wanted. And words cannot convey the gratitude I feel for
—
my husband Greg or his delight that I am finished with
this dissertation. With fortitude and devotion he endured
many months of separation while I visited archives in Spain
and Louisiana, poured over books in the library, and pounded
away at the computer.
(vi)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
LIST OF TABLES X
LIST OF FIGURES xii
KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS xiii
ABSTRACT xiv
CHAPTERS
1 INTRODUCTION 1
Free People of Color in American Slave Societies. 1
Primary Sources, Methodology, and Terminology.... 6
Constructing a Context: Colonial Politics and
and Economics 12
Political Trends 12
Economic Trends 17
Slaves and Free Blacks in Colonial New Orleans:
An Overview 23
2 AVENUES TO FREEDOM 37
The Setting: Demographic and Legal Conditions... 40
Avenues to Freedom: General Observations 44
Case Studies: Category One Manumissions 59
Inter Vivos 59
By Testament 67
Conditional 71
Case Studies: Category Two Manumissions 75
Self-Purchase 75
Third-Party Purchases 82
Before a Tribunal 89
Conclusion 93
3 FREE BLACKS AT WORK 110
Occupations Pursued by Free Persons of Color Ill
Competition and Hostility 129
Wages 130
(vii)
The Learning Process 134
Contributing Factors to Material Success 137
Conclusion 143
4 AN HONOR AND PRIVILEGE TO SERVE: THE FREE
BLACK MILITIA 153
Free Black Militias in Spanish America 154
Expansion of the New Orleans Free Black Militia
Under Spanish Rule 159
Defensive Function of the Free Black Militia 166
Economic and Social Role of the Free Militia
of Color 181
Conclusion 190
5 BLACK OVER BLACK: SLAVE OWNERSHIP BY FREE
PEOPLE OF COLOR 200
Ownership of Non-Kin Slaves 203
Purchases 203
Sales 209
Donations 213
Further Clues to Non-Kin Slaveholding 216
Slave Rentals 221
Expended Resources: Freeing the Slaves 222
Purchase of Slave Kin and the Manumission
of Slaves 223
Funds to Free Slaves 226
Aggregate Acquisitions, Dispositions, Exchanges
and Slaves Prices 228
Conclusion 235
6 LEISURE, FAMILY, AND SOCIAL INTERACTION 243
Residential Patterns 247
Cohabitation: Whites, Slaves, and Free Blacks... 248
Consanguineous and Fictive Relationships:
The Good and the Bad 255
Religious Activities 263
Other Social Diversions 269
Conclusion 278
7 A FREE BLACK REBEL: PEDRO BAILLY AND THE
FRENCH REVOLUTION 288
General Apprehensions Concerning the Free Black
Population 292
The Bailly Conspiracy Trials, 1791 and 1795 297
Louisiana As Part of the Circum-Caribbean 318
Conclusion 321
8 CONCLUSION 330
(viii)
APPENDICES
A NEW ORLEANS OCCUPATION DATA FOR HOUSEHOLD HEADS,
1791 AND 1795 346
B REGULATIONS GOVERNING NEW ORLEANS' FREE MILITIA
OF COLOR 354
REFERENCES 364
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 381
(ix)
LIST OF TABLES
page
Table 2-1. New Orleans Population, Year by Status
by Gender, 1771-1805 41
Table 2-2. Proportion of Free People of Color in the
the Total, Free, and Non-White Populations, New
Orleans, 1771-1805 42
Table 2-3. Type of Manumission by Year and Gender,
New Orleans, 1771-1803 47
Table 2-4. Phenotype, Gender, and Age Group by
Category of Manumission, New Orleans, 1771-1803 53
Table 2-5. Mean Age of Slaves Manumitted by Year,
Type, and Gender, New Orleans, 1771-1803 55
Table 2-6. Average Value (in Pesos) of Slaves
Purchasing Freedom, New Orleans, 1771-1803 57
Table 3-1. Occupation by Sector and Phenotype,
New Orleans, 1791 and 1795 115
Table 3-2. Occupations of Free Black Heads of
Household by Gender and Age, New Orleans, 1795 116
Table 4-1. Organization of the Free Black Militias
of New Orleans, 1793 163
Table 4-2. Organization of the Free Black Militias
of New Orleans, 1801 164
Table 4-3. Age and Height of the Free Black Militia,
New Orleans, 1801 165
Table 4-4. Health of the Free Black Militia, New
Orleans, 1801 165
Table 5-1. Slave Transactions Involving Free People
of Color, New Orleans, 1771-1803 204
(x)