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Extract 4: Interbellum Louisiana
Extract from 'An Englishwoman’s travels amongst the Confederate slavers'. Miss Isabella Bird (1831-1901), published 1866 (Relating her journey through the Confederacy of 1864-1865).


On my first Sunday in New Orleans, I partook in Communion at an Episcopal church, the service much reminding me of that found in the more traditional kind of Anglican parish in England. It had been a somewhat uncomfortable walk of nearly a mile from my lodgings to the Church, as the residents of the better parts of the city are almost entirely Roman Catholic. This is especially true, I am told, since the ‘flight’ of those elements of the populace unreconciled to Confederate independence and the influx of Frenchmen subsequent to it. Whatever the case, even my lightest summer attire left me uncomfortable in the stifling heat of Louisiana, and I resolved to privately interrogate a Creole lady on matters of sartorial practicality as soon as an opportunity presented itself.


Upon retiring to my hotel, I was pleased to find that Mr Du Bois was a man of his word, arriving for our appointment with the customary fifteen minute delay which constitutes punctuality in Louisiana. I was very much interested to observe the festivities at Congo Square, the famous revels of the New Orleans slave on his day of rest. I was also keen to avail myself of the services of Mr Du Bois as an interpreter to converse with these most unfortunate individuals and glean an idea of the conditions of their bondage.


On our journey, we were the recipients of a number of unfriendly glances and even outright stares. This unwelcome attention, I was assured, was intended to ascertain whether Mr Du Bois was a white, or a coloured gentleman. For an unmarried white gentlewoman to be seen strolling with a free man of colour is frowned upon in the respectable parts of New Orleans, though not treated with the same degree of violence as might attend such an occurrence further up the mighty Mississippi. Mr Du Bois is of exceptionally fair complexion, so despite his wavy hair, none could be precisely sure of his ancestry. It is a most arresting thought that, although he might easily pass for a Welshman, I have myself witnessed slaves some degree whiter than Mr Du Bois. It is thus that the slavers compound their evil with absurdity.


We arrived in Congo Square at around four, and I must admit to some apprehension as it was the first time I had seen so many of the African race in one place. The slaves of New Orleans, by custom and law, are free to spend the afternoon of the Lord’s day in whichsoever manner they please. And the manner they please most of all is to dance their sets of quadrille to the tune of their drumming and pipes, as well as their indigenous version of the Spanish guitar, the “banjo”. These dances, or so I had heard, frequently gave way to the African rituals known in Louisiana as “Voudun”. The dancing had not yet started in earnest, but there were many musicians playing “breakdowns”, in which a skilled dancer performs his most accomplished steps upon a wooden board to the accompaniment of fife, fiddle or even jews’ harp. The skill of some of these dancers was a wonder to behold, though there were others who seemed to rely more on the spectators’ Christian charity than their admiration to attract their centimes.


Among the milling crowd of negroes, I was amazed to see a change come over Mr Du Bois. I do not mean to suggest any coarsening of his manner or much less his comportment, for throughout my acquaintance with him, Mr Du Bois remained a perfect gentleman, rather he skilfully altered his gesture, language and expression to mimic those of the black men who surrounded us. Those who pondered whether or not the blood of Africa coursed in his veins should have had no such doubt had they seen him clap a bare-foot slave on the shoulder and speak to him in the Patois of the Louisiana negro and Indian. As we wandered through the square we passed preachers, dancers and musicians, trestle table taverns, meat roasting on spits, drum makers and knife sharpeners, bowl carvers, the makers of gourd-lutes, and all manner of fortune teller with their magical fetishes laid out on blankets on the dusty floor.


Du Bois seemed to stop to greet a friend or acquaintance at intervals of 5 yards, and it was during one such interval that I spied a coloured gentIeman, whom I first took for a preacher, giving an address in the creole tongue. He was surrounded by a knot of well-dressed gentlemen who for the most part, like him, tended to fair-skin, although a couple were dark black and one young white man was among them. Around these acolytes, a group of slaves listened to his harangue, some affirming their support at appropriate intervals. As I approached so as to apprehend more of his meaning, an elegant man wearing pince-nez blocked my path, looking at me square in the eyes in challenge. I returned his gaze and after a time he shrugged, handed me a leaf of paper, and stepped out of my way. I looked down at the paper and read these words: Neg, mound couley, vouzout pa esclave e lib, vouzout tout travayer. Travayer nan mond dwe uni! I felt a presence at my shoulder and looked up to see a smiling Mr Du Bois. He explained that these were anti-slavery radicals, devotees of our own Mr Engels, known in Lousiana as “Manchester Men”, for the place of origin of their books, which were quite illegal in the Confederacy.


I resolved to find more about this group, but at that moment we were distracted by the grand entrance of Marie Laveau, voudoun queen…


Extract from 'Une breve histoire de la Louisiane', Amadie Du Bois, 1978.

Therefore, by 1860, New Orleans was a bilingual city, in which southern and northern anglophones, creole and immigrant francophones and the Irish and Germans competed for political power. There were more than 10,000 French born individuals in a population of 130,000, without counting the even more substantial francophone population born in the West Indies or Louisiana itself. It is also worth noting that the several thousand Spanish immigrants could be replied upon to support the creoles politically. Despite this, as we have seen, from 1848 onwards every mayor of New Orleans had been an anglo, reflecting the increasing power of the immigrant communities. In view of this, it is possible to view the riots and expulsions of northerners in 1861-1862 as not merely a symptom of the wider conflict over slavery, but as a coup d’etat by the francophone groups, supported by the anglophone southern planters and slave-dealing “kantock” elements of the population. The riot of 17th June 1861…

French capital did not wait long to replace the yankees. By late 1861, the representatives of Chemins de Fer de l’Ouest were already negotiating with the Louisiana government to construct railways and an integrated steamboat system connecting to riverport railheads. An influx of of French entrepreneurs, adventurers and companies drastically increased the francophone population. Between 1861 and 1865, sixteen new banks…

The New Orleans merchant banking houses, both local and metropolitan in origin, were ideally situated for dealing with the credit needs of the young unstable republics of Central America. Several million francs worth of loans were made to the Mexican Empire in 1864 with another….

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