Louisiana, U.S., Slave Manumission Records, 1719-1820

This database is a compilation of information on over four thousand slaves from Louisiana who were involved in manumission (the formal emancipation from slavery) between 1719 and 1820. The information provided in this database regards the manumissions of these slaves and was extracted from documents and records located in various places throughout Louisiana, as well as from some archives located in Texas, France, and Spain. Information contained in this database includes the means of manumission, the relationship of the freer to the freed when a third party bought the slave in order to free him, the name of the third party freer, reasons for manumission, whether a payment was made in order to free the slave and if so, how much it was, the conditions imposed in order to free the slave, and an indication as to whether the slave was likely actually freed. It also provides information on family relationships among the freed slaves, racial categories, ages, genders, birthplaces of mothers of slaves involved in manumission, and indications if an individual was possibly freed by a white father.

To learn more about this project or the compilers of this project, please visit the Afro Louisiana History and Genealogy website.

Note: The age displayed in the results does not always reflect the exact age of the individual. Sometimes it indicates an age grouping the individual fell under. For example, if the age is listed as being 32.5, this does not mean that the individual was 32 1/2 years old. Rather, it indicates that the individual was somewhere between 30 and 35 years old. In this instance, 32.5 is the mean age of the 30-35-year-old age group. Also, the ages of infants are rounded off to the nearest tenth of a year.