I'm currently looking for information on an Antebellum Free black man
named James Dunn. He appears in the register of Free Blacks in the City of
New Orleans and states his origin as Petersburg, Virginia. This can be
confirmed using Custom Records which acknowledge is appearance in the city
in Dec. of 1819. The manifest list Dunn as a "Free Indentured Servant" to
James H. Caldwell- the man who would go on to found the American Theater
in the city. I'm Currently pursuing the origns of James Dunn but am also
interested in what appears to be a pattern of migration from Virginia to
Louisiana for Free Blacks. I beleive that the migration can be attributed
to the passage of a law in 1805 that banned free blacks from Virginia but
I'm not entirely sure. If anyone could assist me in regards to theses
matters it would be greatly appreciated.

Brian K. Mitchell (Phd. student)
Univ. of New Orleans

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