Ahyssa, the Moor

Arabs and Moors in Senegal (Wikipedia)

One of those interesting cases which produced documentation on the specific origins of an enslaved  African in Saint Domingue is the case of Ahyssa. A "Moor" from the northern side of the Senegal River, she was kidnapped and enslaved in the Caribbean. We first read of her in passing, in a work by Haitian historian Jean Fouchard. Her case is interesting for what it says about colonial perceptions of Arabs and non-black Africans, as well as the somewhat detailed account of her background in Africa. 

According to a brief extract of the legal proceedings of case, published in a Journal des Causes celebres, Ahyssa came from the Ouled arcalapha tribe of "Moors" living about 80 lieus from the mouth of the Senegal. Her people were herders involved in the gum trade. The records of her case even provide the name of her parents, as well as general details about how the Arabs in her region recognized the authority of the Moroccan sultan. The racialized interpretation of their relations with black Africans south of the Senegal is also repeatedly emphasized, being presented as one driven by primordial animosity. We even learn the specific conditions of her enslavement, which were instigated by a black man, Aly Samba, who guided New England traders into the community of Ahyssa. Apparently, European and Western traders sometimes purchased black slaves from the communities on the other side of the river while buying gum and other goods from the Moors to the north. While initially presenting themselves as traders, the New England bandits raided and pillaged, kidnapping people and stealing. That is how Ahyssa ended up on a ship that carried her to Grenada, in the Antilles. What happened to the other Arabs kidnapped and sold into slavery in Grenada is never addressed.

Ahyssa's owner in the Antilles, a Cassarouy, was partly responsible for her kidnapping in West Africa. He later brought her with him to Martinique and Le Cap, in Saint-Domingue. After becoming ill, he promised her freedom in his 1774 testament. Furthermore, we are led to believe he supposedly never treated like a slave or subjected her to cruel actions. Based on this special treatment, one suspects Cassarouy treated Ahyssa, renamed Colombe, as a concubine or lover. Nonetheless, she found out to her horror that after her master's death, she was to be sold as a slave of the estate of the deceased Cassarouy. With the aid of a curator, she fought this and claimed her freedom as a "Moor" kidnapped from her homeland. Thanks to this, we have records of her case which are replete with details of her capture and her African background. In her case, her specifically non-black origins were a central part of the reason she was not considered legally enslaveable, and therefore deserved to have her emancipation recognized. 

Perhaps this case illustrates how, by 1776, racial lines in Saint Domingue had consolidated around more overtly racist ideology that specifically targeted "blackness" as fit for enslavement. Those of Indian (Amerindian) or Arab origin, however, could resist this. In Ahyssa's case, since she was possibly seen as a "mulatto" in Saint-Domingue's racial classificatory scheme, her Moor, or Arab background, were central to buttressing her claim to freedom. This may also explain why the case stresses racial animosity and conflict between Moors, or Arabs, and black Africans of the Senegambian region. The argument in favor of her independence also went into great depth to describe how, despite the occasional resemblance of races like hers with the "mulattoes" of Saint Domingue, a glance at Ahyssa was enough to illustrate that she was not actually one. She was, regardless of how dusky or tawny her skin color may have been, an Arab and the background of hostility between her people and black Africans may have been utilized in her case to stress this by Moreau de Saint-Mery. Furthermore, the fact that the English took her captive rather than the French was another point in favor of her liberation, since the French were supposedly more interested in maintaining peaceful relations with the Moors near the Senegal River.

Interestingly, it seems like claiming freedom on the grounds of being Arab did not work so well in the case of "Nar" captives in Louisiana. Labeled by a Wolof term for them, the Arab slaves of Louisiana do not seem to have able to escape their condition based on that argument. And they were sometimes explicitly linked with other "Negroes" among the captive slaves in Louisiana, despite occasionally being referred to as red or lighter-skinned. Midlo Hall's database on slaves in Louisiana is an excellent resource to learn more about the "Nar" or "Nards" in Louisiana.