Code Noir: Slave Laws in French Colonial Mid-America

Professor Carl J. Ekberg introduces the colonial slave laws promulgated by Louis XIV and Louis XV of France, with specific focus on their utility and application in the Illinois Country. He supports his narrative with numerous examples drawn from the Kaskaskia Manuscripts and other governmental documents of the French and Spanish colonial eras.Daniel D. Franklin introduces the texts of the 1724 royal edict regulating Black slavery in the Louisiana territory—the manuscript copy held by the Louisiana State Museum and a printed copy published by the Imprimerie Royale in 1727. The texts are reproduced side by side and are accompanied by an English translation and notes that provide comparative, stylistic, and historical information.This is No. 14 in the William L. Potter Publication Series of the Center for French Colonial Studies. Read more