I'm very suspicious of references to colour in the history of New Orleans
once the Americans got there. By my reading, the people of colour who owned
slaves were, to some extent, mulatto refugees from events in Haiti and would
not have considered themselves 'Negroes', but to the incoming White American
settlers anyone with a touch of African blood was Not White, hence Black or
Negro. Interestingly, when it came to organising the defence of New Orleans,
Andrew Jackson warned those Whites who did not wish the coloured population
to bear arms in the militia that, if frustrated too far, the coloured
slaveholders would side with their own slaves against the American
administration. (And, please, to all those Jacksonian specialists out there,
I can't provide a reference but should welcome one if  someone can give it .
. . )

John Weiss
Independent Scholar, London
See the history links at
http://homepage.virgin.net/john.weiss/mcnish-weiss.html


----- Original Message -----
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: black master


: BEAUTIFUL CRESCENT, A History of New Orleans by Joan B. Garvey and Mary
: Lou Widmer, Library of Congress Number 111-123 ISBN #0-9612960-0-3
:     Page 97.  "In the city, there were many free Negroes with slaves of
: their own.

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