Impressively researched, this study analyzes Louisiana’s slave laws from the territorial period to the Civil War. The numerous case histories Schafer presents make for compelling reading, for they depict in detail, probably better than most fictional or narrative accounts, what living in bondage could mean. 

Judith Kelleher Schafer is the author of several books, including Slavery, the Civil Law, and the Supreme Court of Louisiana and Becoming Free, Remaining Free: Manumission and Enslavement in New Orleans, 1846-1862. She lives in New Orleans with her husband.