A Negro Sojourner in Antebellum New Orleans

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Loren L. Schweninger, Emeritus Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Many blacks, slave and free, considered the slave trading capital of the South in quite a different light—as a place of enjoyment, excitement, and delectation, even, ironically, as a refuge from the brutalities of the South's "peculiar institution." They rejoiced at the city's heterogeneous mixture of peoples, its thriving river front, its delightful shops, cafés, restaurants, and hotels, its numerous theatres, amusements, and sporting events. Though the experiences of one slave and free Negro, James P. Thomas, are, in a limited sense, only those of a single (and in many respects privileged) black man, perhaps in broader perspective they reflect the attitudes and activities of other blacks who found New Orleans a refreshing oasis in an otherwise stifling desert of bondage.

Additional Information

Publication
Louisiana History 20 (Summer 1979), 305-314
Language: English
Date: 1979
Keywords
New Orleans, Slave trade

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