Securing the future of black labor: covert attempts to reopen the transatlantic slave trade in Louisiana, 1853-1861

Abstract

In the late antebellum period, several southern states in the United States advocated for a reopening of the transatlantic slave trade from West Africa. The literature on the southern reopening movement is not only scarce, but has also overemphasized the role of South Carolina in this movement, leaving the role of Louisiana largely overlooked. Securing the Future of Black Labor: Covert Attempts to Reopen the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Louisiana, 1853-1861 constitutes the first study to focus on the role of Louisiana in this movement. While arguments to repeal the 1808 slave trade ban appeared to have been mainly used symbolically in South Carolina to reach the larger goal of secession, this study demonstrates that the Louisiana elite was serious about reopening the international slave trade from West Africa. It investigates what the motivations and strategies of the Louisiana elite were to reopen this trade. The central argument is that Louisiana elitists tried to reopen the transatlantic slave trade because they wanted to secure the future of Black labor in the United States; not only by expanding slavery but also by experimenting with alternative forms of Black freedom. In making that argument, this study aims to complicate our understanding of the meaning of Black freedom in the US in the late antebellum period by introducing the concept of African apprenticeship.