Most of the slaves in Ile Royale spoke French and worked in domestic service. The women looked after the many children.
 During the years 1722 to 1758 there were 2,200 children born in Louisbourg. They also scrubbed floors, prepared meals
 and cleaned the home. The men, tended gardens, cared for animals, cleaned stables, carried water and cut firewood.

 Since they could not write, slaves in the 18th Century left few records that could be used by scholars. Yet the
 Fortress of Louisbourg archives contain records that reveal much about the African presence on the Island.
 For example, they show that Charles, an 18-year-old black slave, was the property of Pierre Benoist, an ensign
 in the garrison. Charles cared for two large gardens, goats, a sow and hens, as well as keeping the stoves and
 fireplaces supplied with wood.

 Slave holding is Ile Royale was part of a broader phenomenon that began in the 16th Century, when the first slaves were
 brought from Africa to America, but slave holding was not significant in terms of numbers. By 1759 there were 3,604 slaves
 in Canada – 1, 132 of whom were black. The majority of slaves in New France – 69 per cent – were panis, a term describing
 the Caddoan tribes of the Great Plains. These included slaves from tribes such as the Fox, Sioux, Iowa, Kansa, Chickasaw,
 Blackfoot and Comanche. In Isle Royale, by contrast, over 90 per cent of the slaves were Blacks, reflecting the colonies
 close trade links with the French West Indies.

 By 1718, Ile Royal had become a thriving French colony, exporting 150,000 quintals of dried codfish to Europe
 and the Caribbean. In return, Ile Royale purchased shiploads of sugar, rum and molasses. The majority of slaves in
 Louisbourg came from the French West Indies.

 Ile Royale has been described as a society with slaves, not a “slave society”. This is because slaves comprised such a small
 part of the population. For example, in 1734 there were 28 slaves in Louisbourg, which was 2.4 per cent of the town’s
 population. By 1757 there were 125 slaves, representing 3.1 per cent of the population. In Halifax in 1749 there 14
 enslaved black people.

 Official French policy towards slaves was established in 1685 with the adoption of the Black Code (Code Noir) for the
 West Indies. Slave owners were forbidden to have children with their slaves and those who broke the law were subject
 to a fine of two thousand pounds of sugar. Masters were obliged to provide minimum weekly quantity of food to all slaves
 ten years of age or older, as well as two suits of clothing or four ells of cloth per year. Finally, masters had to take care of their
 slaves in their old age. However, a wide gap occurred between the theories of the code and the practice of slave owners.
 In fact, the Black Code was never even registered in Ile Royale.

 In a world where life was precarious, slaves were particularly vulnerable. Even slaves who had provided long years of service
 often found themselves for sale after their masters death. According to native oral tradition, the Mi’kmaq helped some slaves
 to escape and there was a least one marriage between a Mi’kmaq male and a freed black slave woman at Louisbourg.
 A few slaves were rewarded for faithful service with freedom upon the death of their master.

 In most Roman Catholic colonies, the church’s response to slavery was not driven by humanitarian concerns about their
 plight but by a belief that slaves had souls and therefore were potential converts to Catholicism.
 One hundred and twenty three black and aboriginal slaves appear in the Ile Royal parish records, which include 80 baptisms,
 5 weddings, 18 burials, 11 witnesses and 9 mothers of babies.

 After Halifax was founded in 1749, slaves were often traded between the communities. In 1751, the schooner
 Success arrived in Halifax from Antigua with “9 negro men.” In 1752, a Halifax merchant offered one female and five
 male slaves for sale. The female was described as “a very likely Negro Wench, of about thirty five years of Age.”
 She had been brought up in a “Gentleman’s Family, and (was) capable of doing all sorts of Work belonging thereto,
 as Needlework of all sorts and in the best manner, also Washing, Ironing, Cookery and every other thing that
 can be expected from such a slave.”

 At least three enslaved black women in Louisbourg were eventually freed and married in Louisbourg. In November 1745,
 Marguerite Rose obtained her freedom and was married to Jean Baptiste Laurent, described as an “Indian”.

 Kenneth Donovan talks about Marie Marguerrite Rose

  Jean Baptiste Cupidon, a former slave, bought a slave named Catherine for 500 livres and married her in 1753.
 Marie Louise, a slave of merchant Louis Jouet for 18 years, married indentured servant Louis Coustard in 1754.
 He was the only white man to marry a black slave in Isle Royale.

 These incidents were rare because slavery perpetuated a culture of oppression. Owners might be cruel or kind but the shared
 experience of slaves was usually oppressive and humiliating. Nonetheless, an analysis of the experiences of slaves
 at Louisbourg suggests that generalizations cannot be made. Some slaves helped to raise large households,
 a few achieved a modest level of literacy and many were skilled tradesmen.

 Slaves in Louisbourg did not remain socially dead. They formed relationships with the families for whom they worked
 and the children they raised. There is evidence that slaves gathered together for occasions such as weddings
 and baptisms and at least five slaves were allowed to marry.

 Yet no matter what their situation, slaves at Louisbourg were forced to adapt to a life they did not choose
 and could rarely control. Although existing records can provide only a glimpse of the world of slaves in 18th Century
 Louisbourg, they do show that black and Panis slaves were neither invisible nor peripheral to Ile Royal society.
 They contributed to the success of the settlement in a fundamental way.

 For further information:
 Kenneth Donovan, Slaves and their Owners in Ile Royale, 1713-1760"
 Acadiensis, Vol. XXV, No. 1 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 3-32. Acadiensis, Vol. XXV, No. 1 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 3-32.