The Inward/Outward Slave Manifests for the Port of New Orleans

by Roberta Ridley

The Inward/Outward Slave Manifests for the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana is an unassuming and informative source that may help to track movement of slaves, as well as the slave owners. The domestic slave trade transplanted approximately one million slaves during the period of 1808 through 1865 (prior to the end of Civil War). The relocation was from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, and North Carolina, to Alabama, Mississippi, Western Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas.

In 1808 the United States abolished the importation of slaves and from that time through 1865, there was an aggressive migration and settlement of the southern frontier. Slaves were transported overland and by coastal waterways. Coastal transportation was from as far north as Boston along the Eastern Seaboard, all the way to New Orleans. Many Africans and African Americans were sold south or transplanted south with their owners.

The manifest documentation provides the following kinds of ownership that could have existed for any one of the slaves being shipped to New Orleans:

1. Owner is a planter moving via sea his whole plantation (slave, equipment, etc.) to the Port of New Orleans. Occasionally the place of relocation is provided.

1. Owner is a slave trader who has bona fide papers showing that he is the owner and that he is consigning a lot of slaves to either his agent or his slave trading house in New Orleans

1. An agent or consignee is shipping slaves to be sold in the New Orleans market individually or as a group.

The list provides the owner/shipper name, consignee and agent, ship name, embarkation port, and of course the port of arrival.

If a slave’s speech, mannerism, or description was suspect, they could be held back upon arrival for investigation, and the manifest so noted. The manifest contains the name, age, description of the slave, and sometimes a female slave will have her children's names listed with her entry. Currently we do not have a complete index for this collection, but the records are well organized by ports and dates. Though some effort is required, they can be easily searched.

This record source is greatly underutilized for both African American genealogy and slave owner migration research in the Old Southwest. We invite you to discover this source!

United States Customs Service Records, Port of New Orleans, Louisiana

• Inward (to New Orleans) slave manifests; Rolls 1 – 12 Date Range 1807 – 1860
• Outward (departing Port of New Orleans) slave manifests; Rolls 1 – 12 Date Range 1812 - 1860

Article taken from the Genealogy Gems[1]: News from the Fort Wayne Library
No. 3, May 31, 2004