Andrew Durnford
Andrew Durnford was an American born owner of a successful sugar plantaion, in Louisiana.[1][2] He represents a rare instance of a black plantation owner who, himself, employed black slaves.
He was the son of Thomas Durnford, an Englishman who first came to America in 1762 to serve as the secretary to his cousin Elias Durnford, a military officer.[2]
In 1835 he travelled from his plantation, near New Orleans, to Virginia, to purchase additional slaves.[1] During this excursion he wrote a series of letters to his friend and business partner Thomas MacDonough, and those letters have been analyzed for what they reveal about the slave trade in general, and to how it was practiced by black owners.
According to David O. Whitten, a scholar who studied Durnford'd record, he did allow his slaves to earn money for extra work.[1] Slaves who wanted to earn their freedom were incentivized to seek this extra work. Whitten also studied the instances where Durnford's correspondence revealed the deaths of slaves, through disease, or work-related accidents.
Durnford was able to correspond in both French and English[1] Whitten describes Durnford as well-read.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 David O. Whitten (summer 1970). "Slave Buying in 1835 Virginia as Revealed by Letters of a Louisiana Negro Sugar Planter". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association 11 (3): pp. 231-244. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4231132.pdf?casa_token=lvAI2iYVyc8AAAAA:4-3dKjokIoqrmQ_O-EhQ7DyMbdWo2WRwsIafr_a5La-P21YsGhgKVUsV_-WDX8gmzOqNU5lSimKV2aA-ZdgwJGNu1T761ecolNq6plQ3U4OAlmzfomhv. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bill Simpson (Autumn, 1987). "Reviewed Work(s)". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association 28 (4): p. 438. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4232627.pdf?casa_token=20pld8fqKb8AAAAA:f4uiiTpsF9U-z9n6NtOS8F8IJ1wSWOGDP6QploBJo4U3asSlkBt_un3TLxUVt4GpWM00pvXV21-KeX5Es8M4K4ryHSaz-2wSqujcYfigROeNmXaa2-_h. Retrieved 2021-06-16. "pport the assertion that Durnford was a successful entrepreneur. Beyond entrepreneurial success, however, lies the fact that Andrew Durnford, a black man, entered the mainstream of a white-dominated socio-economic environment and held his own. He is an example of what a black man could do, despite racial barriers which included black slave."
- ↑ David O. Whitten (July 1984). "Rural Life along the Mississippi: Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, 1830-1850". Agricultural History 58 (3): pp. 477-487. "Like many rural folk, Durnford was well informed because he was well read. He read Locke. "Harry will deliver you the balance of Locke's works which is worth reading." He subscribed to Little's Living Age, Revue des Deux Mondes, Price Current, and Delta He also read borrowed copies of African Repository sent by John McDonogh. In addition he regularly purchased books in bundles. These included the first volume supple- ment to Cy Americana and Geography by Burhing."
