Date of Award
12-2016
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts - History
Department
History
First Advisor
Dr. Mark Barringer
Second Advisor
Dr. Court Carney
Third Advisor
Dr. Brook Poston
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Linda Black
Abstract
During the first half of the nineteenth century, slavery became a vital economic component upon which the success of the southern states in America rested. Cotton was king, and slavery was the peculiar institution that ensured its dominance in the domestic and international markets of America. Popular portrayals, however, often neglect the complicated dynamics of American slavery and instead depict the institution in simplistic terms. The traditional view has emphasized an image of white southerners as slaveholders and blacks as slaves. In New Orleans, the lives of three men—all of whom were tied to slavery in varying capacities—reveal a much more nuanced picture of American slavery. John McDonogh, a white slaveowner and member of the American Colonization Society (ACS), proposed an emancipation plan to his slaves by which they could gradually purchase their freedom on the condition that, once freed, they were repatriated to Liberia. Andrew Durnford, a homme de couleur libre (free man of color) and slaveowner, was a business associate and friend of McDonogh who showed little to no interest in emancipating his slaves. Washington Watts McDonogh, a college-educated former slave of John McDonogh, was a minister in Liberia who supported the ACS repatriation plan at a time when many free blacks in America did not support the African colonization movement, preferring to remain in the United States. The experiences of three men reveal how slavery in nineteenth-century New Orleans was a much more nuanced institution that did not resemble the traditional narrative that the public has come to know.
Repository Citation
Carr, Amanda N., "DEFYING CONVENTION: ATYPICAL PERSPECTIVES OF SLAVERY IN ANTEBELLUM NEW ORLEANS" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 54.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/54
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
African American Studies Commons, African History Commons, Other American Studies Commons, United States History Commons
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