Olivier Le Jeune
Born1621 (1621)
Madagascar
Died1654 (aged 32–33)
Quebec City
Occupationservant
Known forfirst African slave sold in Quebec

Olivier Le Jeune (died (1654-05-10)May 10, 1654) was the first recorded slave purchased in New France.[1][2]

Background

Olivier was a young boy from Madagascar, believed to have been approximately seven years of age when he was brought to the French colonial settlement of Quebec in New France by Scottish privateer David Kirke or one of his brothers, Lewis and Thomas Kirke during their capture of the settlement on behalf of the English Crown.[3] Shortly afterwards, the boy was sold to Olivier Le Baillif, a French clerk in the pay of the expeditionary force which captured the settlement.

When Quebec was handed back to the French in 1632, Le Baillif left the colony and gave his slave to a Quebec resident, Guillemette Couillard.[1][2] The boy was educated in a school established by the Jesuit priest, Father Le Jeune. In 1632, the boy said to Father Le Jeune: "You say that by baptism I shall be like you: I am black and you are white, I must have my skin taken off to be like you." Nevertheless, Father Le Jeune baptised him as Olivier in 1633, after the colony's head clerk, Olivier Letardif. Olivier later adopted the name Le Jeune, the surname of the Jesuit priest.[4]

Olivier Le Jeune died on 10 May 1654.[1][2] It is believed that by the time of his death his official status was changed from that of slave to that of free "domestic servant".

Although he is often referred to as a black African from Madagascar, he may have been of partial Malay ancestry, which would have been quite common owing to the fact that Madagascar had been originally settled by diverse peoples of Southeast Asia and Oceania as well as Africa.

Le Jeune was designated a National Historic Person by Parks Canada in 2022. A commemorative plaque is located at Cartier-Brébeuf National Historic Site, 175 de l'Espinay Street, Québec.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Marcel Trudel. "Le Jeune, Olivier, a servant of Guillaume Couillard". DictMionary of Canadian Biography. We do not know whether Couillard treated him as a slave or set him free, for in the burial register Olivier is listed as a servant. No text certifies that he was a slave. His situation may very well have been the same as that of the Indian girls Charité and Espérance, whom Champlain was unable to obtain permission to take to France and whom Couillard adopted.
  2. ^ a b c Ethel M. G. Bennett. "Hebert, Guillemette (Couillard de Lespinay), daughter of Louis Hébert and Marie Rollet". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. They must have formed part of a cosmopolitan household, for it contained also Olivier Le Jeune, a black boy from Madagascar brought up the river by the English, sold to Olivier Le Baillif, and given by him to the Couillard family.
  3. ^ "Black History Canada Timeline". Black History Canada. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  4. ^ Winks, Robin W. (1971). The Blacks in Canada : a history. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-300-01361-2. OCLC 140347.
  5. ^ Parks Canada Agency, Government of Canada (2023-10-13). "Olivier Le Jeune — National Historic Person - Olivier Le Jeune National Historic Person". parks.canada.ca. Retrieved 2024-02-15.

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