I recently visited New Orleans and took a historical tour of the French Quarter and one of the things that was mentioned frequently was that, for the time New Orleans had a very progressive slave code. Is there any basis for that claim or were they just attempting to white wash over this time?
I live in New Orleans.
A lot of slaves came through New Orleans back then. It was a slave trading hub for the entire south, and they were bought, and sold at the place the tour guide probably showed you.
With that said slaves did have it better in New Orleans then most of the south. There were free black slave owners here, as well as most slaves getting a day off every week. This free day where slaves went to Congo Square, and created music is where many of the origins of Jazz came from.