Slavery, Testimony, Archives (or, Should We Listen When the Subaltern Speak?)

Abstract

In eighteenth-century New Orleans, the legal testimony of some 150 enslaved women and men was meticulously recorded and preserved, down to the inclusion of dialogue, of turns of speech, of metaphors, sometimes even passages in Creole. Interrogated in criminal trials as defendants, victims, and witnesses, they moved beyond the questions posed and answered instead with stories about themselves, their words creating riveting narratives that constitute a precious repository of voices of enslaved individuals in colonial America. Though this archive is problematic, their testimony was anchored in the deponents’ own experiences and ways of knowing, prompting the question of whether we can use this material, and most importantly: if and when they did speak in court, should we listen?