Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

From French and Creole to Spanish, the domain of the Napoleonic Empire to the king of Spain, crossing the strait separating the French colony of Saint-Domingue and the Spanish colony of Cuba entailed a change of language and government. Some 18,000 people made that transition between the spring and summer of 1803 during the Revolutionary War in Saint-Dominque. Six years later, many crossed the Gulf of Mexico from Cuba to New Orleans and the recently acquired Louisiana Territory under the authority of a territorial governor and the United States Congress. What would these crossings lead to for those who had been slaves in Saint-Domingue and to those who would claim them as property?

This article explores these issues in two overlapping dimensions: first, through the land and other official classifying documents; second, through the families and life experiences of these immigrants. The central figure is a woman named Rosalie of the Poulard Nation, born in Africa and held as a slave in the Jérémie region of Saint-Domingue. We must approach her life obliquely by gathering fragments written by others. However, through these fragments, the roles and powers that could turn a human being into a "person with a price" will become clear. In the end, we will also show that the ability to maneuver in the world of paper and power could sometimes return a "person with a price" to their status as an individual.

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