How did slaves get to New Orleans?
The first slave ships from Africa arrived in Louisiana in 1719, only a year after the founding of New Orleans. Twenty-three ships brought slaves to Louisiana in the French period alone, almost all embarking prior to 1730.
The French introduced African slaves to the territory in 1710, after capturing a number as plunder during the War of the Spanish Succession. Trying to develop the new territory, the French transported more than 2,000 Africans to New Orleans between 1717–1721, on at least eight ships.
Now known as Algiers Point, the land directly across the river from the French Quarter was once the primary port of disembarkation for captive Africans brought to Louisiana in the transatlantic slave trade.
The city of New Orleans was the largest slave market in the United States, ultimately serving as the site for the purchase and sale of more than 135,000 people.
The first slaves from Africa arrived in Louisiana in 1719 on the Aurore slave ship from Whydah, only a year after the founding of New Orleans. Twenty-three slave ships brought black slaves to Louisiana in French Louisiana alone, almost all embarking prior to 1730.
On Sunday afternoons, city leaders allowed slaves to gather outside of the city north of Rampart Street. Originally, this area was called Place de Negres, or Place Congo. Eventually, the city grew past this gathering point and it became known as Congo Square.
There were few enslaved people in Louisiana before 1720. As in other New World colonies, efforts to enslave the indigenous population in Louisiana proved futile and contributed to the colonial authorities' decision to import enslaved Africans.
Auction blocks in the sumptuous rotunda of the St. Louis Hotel, private residences, public parks, decks of ships moored along the Mississippi, high-walled slave pens, and commercial complexes such as Banks Arcade all served as sites for the buying and selling of human beings.
Louisiana's current constitution allows slavery and indentured servitude as punishment for a crime.
“They went to Louisiana because it was another colony of France,” says Henry. “It was part of the French network.” Now, people had been fleeing Haiti over the course of this 13-year revolution to go live in other French colonies.
Did the Spanish bring slaves to Louisiana?
During the Spanish regime, the total population of Louisiana increased from 10,000 to 30,000, and the enslaved population likewise increased from 4,500 to nearly 13,000.
In the middle of the night of April 24, Admiral David Farragut led a fleet of 24 gunboats, 19 mortar boats and 15,000 soldiers in a daring run past the forts. Now, the river was open to New Orleans except for the ragtag Confederate fleet. The mighty Union armada plowed right through, sinking eight ships.
