The port city of New Orleans, Louisiana was a vibrant slave destination since the early 1700s. Slavery in Louisiana was first established by the French, followed by the Spanish and English. The development of the Cotton Gin in 1793 and the Louisiana Purchase by the United States in 1803 stimulated the agricultural slave economy. The distance between Pike County, Mississippi to the city of New Orleans is slightly over a hundred miles. Because of the close geographic proximity, my assumption was most of my enslaved ancestors from Africa arrived in New Orleans and then were transported to Mississippi. The assumption may only be partially true.
The Act of Prohibiting Importation of Slaves a United States federal law and Abolition of The Slave Trade Act passed by the British Parliament banned the import of slaves in the British Empire in 1807. This stimulated the domestic slave trade. The enslaved were also illegally imported into the United States from geographic areas that were not part of the United States after 1807.
The ship Amistad is a famous example of illegal slave trade. The Portuguese ship Amistad in 1839 which held 53 African enslaved people initial route was Havana, Cuba. The Africans seized the ship and killed the captain and cook and tried to return to Africa. The ship was seized in New York and all on board were taken to Connecticut. The plantation owners were freed and the Africans were charged with murder. The murder charges were latter dismissed. The plantation owners, Spanish government and the captain of the ship Washington claimed the Africans people as property. The case was eventually adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court in 1841 with the Africans represented by former President John Q. Adams. The Supreme Court decided in favor of the Africans and they were released. Thirty-four Africans survived and with the financial help of abolitionists they returned to Africa.
It is from this historic background, I have continued to look for my enslaved ancestors from the early transport prior to 1807 and the domestic slave trade. From the domestic slave trade, I have received from a cousin the documentation of the enslavement of Mary Johnson.
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