History of slavery in Iowa

The area that is now the American state of Iowa was part of New France when first settled by Europeans. As such, it was governed by its slavery laws. French settlers first brought African slaves into Upper Louisiana from Saint-Domingue around 1720 under the legal terms of the Code Noir, which defined the conditions of slavery in the French empire and restricted the activities of free Black persons.[1][2]

At the time, nine hundred slaves lived in the territory, as well as at least three hundred slaves the French took with them as they left for the lands west of the Mississippi River, including modern-day Iowa. The institution of slavery continued after Britain acquired the Illinois Country in 1763 following the French and Indian War.[3]

See also

References
  1. Ethan A. Snively, "Slavery in Illinois", Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, 1901.
  2. "Slavery In Illinois, Freedom Trails: 2 Legacies of Hope". Archived from the original on 2016-02-04. Retrieved 2016-12-10.
  3. Lehman, Christopher P. (2011). Slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1787–1865: A History of Human Bondage in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. p. 27. ISBN 978-0786458721.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.