ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the narrative dimension of the interrogatories and testimonies included in the trial of Jupiter alias Gamelle, a twenty-five-year-old slave of the Cerer/Sereer nation who belonged to Jean-Charles de Pradel and was accused of running away and of theft by breaking and entering in French New Orleans in 1744. After having introduced the Superior Council of Louisiana and the judicial procedure, the chapter, probing Jupiter’s case, shows how court records can be exploited fruitfully in various ways despite their biases. Historians can piece together multiple layers of microevidence unintentionally scattered in the interrogatories and testimonies, and reconstruct the narratives of slaves’ life stories through their own experience. They can also analyze the narratives intentionally developed by enslaved defendants to defend themselves in front of judges.
