Lucy Brown, a free woman of color, prays for an order declaring her and her two minor children “free and forever absolved from the bonds of slavery” in which they are now being held. Lucy claims that, although she was emancipated in 1823, at the age of fifteen, the act of enfranchisement has been “lost or mislaid.” She contends that, concurrent with her emancipation, her parents, who were free people of color, signed a contract of indentured apprenticeship with Elijah Mix, her former master and emancipator. She thus remained with Mix's family and shortly thereafter moved with them to New York, a state where slavery “cannot and does not exist.” With the passing of time, however, Lucy was enslaved again and held by various masters, ending up the property of one Persifor F. Smith in New Orleans. Persifor Smith having left New Orleans, she and two of her four children are now being held by his agent, Howard Smith. Lucy therefore prays for an order declaring her and her children free and condemning Persifor Smith, through his agent Howard Smith, to pay wages for her services and those of her children. She also seeks $1,000 in damages.
Result: Granted; appealed; affirmed.
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Repository: University of New Orleans
