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[CHAPTER 17]
[Page 1]
THE FREE COLORED CLASS OF LOUISIANA
In less than five years after Antoine Crozat had relinquished his charter to the Crown, and the Company of the West was formed in his stead, records reveal that there were free Negroes in Louisiana.1 A few of these free Negroes came into Louisiana in company with white settlers from France. Raphael Bernard, a free Negro, who was living in New Orleans in 1724, brought suit against Paulin Cadot, a white man, because of the non-payment of a loan that the latter had received from him. Bernard later hired himself to a white planter named Dumanoir for a period of five years, and in return for his labor was to receive 200 francs in silver each year, plus an outfit of clothing. The contract had been made while both men were in France, but after they arrived in the colony, and before the contract period had expired, Bernard sued Dumanoir, claiming that the latter had “treated him with rigor,” and stinted him on clothing and hire. In the suit brought against Dumanoir, Bernard asked the Superior Council to dissolve the contract between him and his employer, and grant him the privilege of returning to France.2
Some of the free Negroes from other sections who came into the colony bought women slaves whom they married and later manumitted, and many remained to rear families. This fact is illustrated in the case of Jean Mingo, an “English free negro” who came into the colony from the Carolinas. The following is taken from the records of the Superior Council:
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