The Louisiana Slave Trade Database consists of more than 100,000 records of slave trade transactions from 1719 through about 1820.

We have indexed in the NY Slavery Records Index the records of trades of 32 persons who are identified in the sale record as having been born in New York. To see their records, access a Search Page and select “LSTD” in the tag dropdown menu at the bottom of the page. Alternatively, go to Louisiana Slave Trade Database itself and select “New York” as the origin of the enslaved person.

At this time we do not know anything more about these people, but presumably they were “sold south” by slave holders in New York.

For example select “Charlotte” and you see the record of a person who was 33 years old when the trade took place in 1809, so she was born in  New York in 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence, which claimed that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Charlotte was shipped south sometime after that.

Charlotte

Gender: female
Race: black
Birthplace: New York
Age (when this record was documented): 33.0

Selling Information
Name of the Seller: Marie Dumon
Name of the Buyer: Victoire Raimu??
Grouping: sold or inventoried as an individual
Selling Currency: D
Selling Value: 550
Selling Value: 550

Document: Information of the document that these records were retrieved.
Document Location: Orleans (including Chapitoulas).[Jefferson 1825] Document Date: 1809-07-25
Document Number (from the document): 365
Notary Name: M. DeArmas
Coder (person that encoded this record: Philip McLeod
Date of Sale: 18090725
Type of document:
Any documents involving maroons, including reports of runaways, interrogation of caputred runaways, and testimony by slaves about runaways: no
Language: French
Is this document of linguistic interest?: no
Is this inventory or sale of an estate of a free person of African descent?: no

Skill and Trade Information
Skills and Occupations: cook, laundress, somewhat an ironer
Skill: cook, cuisinier, cocinero
Skill: laundry, ironing, blanchisseur, repasseur

Personality

Family Information
Was this slave inventoried with his/her mother?: no
Was this slave sold with his/her mother?: no

Importation Information
Was this slave being emancipated?: no
Slave listed as dead?: no

Or select Prince, who was traded in 1818 at the age of 16. He was born in New York when at that time the Gradual Abolition Law had been passed. The record says “Henderson is testamentary executor of Hackley.  Act is transfer of services of slave for 11 yrs & 5 mo., until slave’s 28th birthday, because slave was born in NY on 10/18/1801 & the laws of that state grant him his freedom on his 28th birthday.$450 removed.” Prince had been born after the Gradual Abolition law so he was required to serve the enslaver of his mother for 28 years. Who was the enslaver who sold him south? Did someone remember to set him free after 11 years and 5 months? Prince would not personally have any proof. 

Prince

Gender: male
Race: black
Birthplace: New York
Age (when this record was documented): 16.0
Other comments: Henderson is testamentary executor of Hackley. Act is transfer of services of slave for 11 yrs & 5 mo., until slave’s 28th birthday, because slave was born in NY on 10/18/1801 & the laws of that state grant him his freedom on his 28th birthday.$450 removed.

Selling Information
Last Name of Deceased: Hackley
Name of the Seller: Stephen Henderson
Name of the Buyer: Peter Baron Boisfontaine
Grouping: no prices at all

Document: Information of the document that these records were retrieved.
Document Location: Orleans (including Chapitoulas).[Jefferson 1825] Document Date: 1818-05-22
Document Number (from the document): 443
Notary Name: Lynd
Coder (person that encoded this record: Mabel Macias
Type of document:
Any documents involving maroons, including reports of runaways, interrogation of caputred runaways, and testimony by slaves about runaways: no
Language: English
Is this document of linguistic interest?: no
Is this inventory or sale of an estate of a free person of African descent?: no

Skill and Trade Information

Personality

Family Information
Was this slave inventoried with his/her mother?: no
Was this slave sold with his/her mother?: no

Importation Information
Was this slave being emancipated?: no
Slave listed as dead?: no

Most of these people were born before the passage of the Gradual Abolition Law, during a time when the sale value of an enslaved person was greater in the South than the North and enslaved people in NY were sold to traders representing southern enslavers. This is what probably happened to Charlotte and Prince.