The first Africans were brought to Louisiana as part of the French Crown’s effort to replace the indigenous population that was being enslaved. From 1720 to 1740, many African individuals arriving in French Louisiana came from the area between the Gambia and Senegal rivers. These groups, including the Bambara and Mandingo tribes, had skills in agriculture, manufacturing, and trades such as carpentry, pottery, and medicine.
Upon arrival at La Balize, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, enslaved Africans were introduced to their new status. In St. Charles Parish, many of the residents receiving African captives were not in supervisory positions, leading to the 1724 Edict of Louis XV, known as the Code Noir, which standardized the legal treatment of enslaved people in Louisiana.
Early records from the parish show that enslaved Africans often lived in small groups, building their own shelters with dirt floors. Their owners varied in how they treated them. On large plantations, enslaved people were subjected to harsher punishments, including chains, shackles, or beatings, as outlined by the Code Noir.
The French government also made efforts to convert enslaved people to Catholicism. Enslaved people had Sundays off unless they were told to work by their masters, in which case they had to be paid. Church marriages were rare among enslaved couples, as owners often discouraged them so they did not have to sell the couple together.
In the mid-1760s, when Spanish rule began in St. Charles Parish, the Spanish government opened the colony to more slave traders. Robin Delogny, the first owner of Destrehan Plantation, bought land in 1783 and acquired enslaved people who were already living there.
You can learn more about the life of the enslaved people at Destrehan Plantation by taking a tour of the plantation with one of our historical interpreters.
After the 1804 sale of Louisiana to the United States, slavery in St. Charles Parish changed. New laws and the growth of sugar farming led to an increase in the need for enslaved labor. While Robin Delogny used 59 enslaved people for indigo production, Jean Noel Destrehan needed 100 to work sugar fields. Under American rule, enslaved marriages were not legally recognized, though enslaved people formed family units and lived as couples when possible.
Destrehan Plantation, like many French Creole plantations, operated under the Creole system of management, which evolved from the Code Noir. Enslaved people worked from sunrise until 3:00 p.m., except during harvest time, which was especially grueling. Workers were divided into gangs based on their abilities. The strongest men made up the “prime gang,” while other groups included women with children and children themselves, who performed lighter tasks.
By the time of the Civil War, over 200 enslaved people lived at Destrehan. In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved individuals in Confederate-controlled areas, though New Orleans and nearby river parishes remained under Union control.
Slavery was officially abolished by the 13th Amendment, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865.
The 1811 Slave Revolt | The Enslaved Registry