Sample court cases involving Black plaintiffs and white defendants from the antebellum Natchez district.
Elizabeth, a negro woman v. Williams, Adams County, Mississippi, 1801, Records of the Circuit Court, Group 1800-09, box 16, file 65, Courthouse Records Project, Historic Natchez Foundation.
In November 1800, Elizabeth, an enslaved woman, sued Maria Williams, a white woman, for the sixty-two dollars she had recently recently lent her. While her owner, one Domingo Loreno, gave her permission to sue, he was not a party to the suit. The court found in Elizabeth's favor and ordered Williams to pay the debt, plus ten percent interest and court costs.
In November 1800, Elizabeth, an enslaved woman, sued Maria Williams, a white woman, for the sixty-two dollars she had recently recently lent her. While her owner, one Domingo Loreno, gave her permission to sue, he was not a party to the suit. The court found in Elizabeth's favor and ordered Williams to pay the debt, plus ten percent interest and court costs.
Rebecca v. Jones, Adams County, Mississippi, 1829, Records of the Circuit Court, Habeas Corpus files, Box 2, Courthouse Records Project, Historic Natchez Foundation.
In 1829, Rebecca, a woman of color, petitioned the local court in Adams County, Mississippi, for a writ of habeas corpus. She claimed that one Eliza Jones was holding her illegally and keeping her from exercising her freedom. She wanted to be brought before the judge so that she could prove her free status. The court ordered the writ.
Villair v. Bristow, Records of the Fourth Judicial District Court, #1835, Iberville Parish Clerk of the Court, Plaquemine, Louisiana, 1841.
In 1841, Pierre Villair, a free man of color from Louisiana, sued Miles Bristow, a white man, for back wages. The court found in his favor and ordered Bristow to pay the debt, plus costs.
LeRidel v. Poydras, Records of the Fourth Judicial District Court, #1433, Pointe Coupee Parish Clerk of the Court, New Roads, Louisiana, 1843.
In 1843, Baptiste LeRidel sued his owner, Benjamin Poydras, a white man from Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, for his freedom on the grounds that he had resided on free soil. Poydras, he claimed, had taken him to France, where they had lived for nine years. Because French law prohibited slavery, "his residence in that country" provided him "all the rights and privileges of a free man." The court agreed and granted him his freedom.