Marie-Marguerite Duplessis Radisson (c. 1718 – after 1740) was a Pawnee woman who was enslaved in New France.[1]

Duplessis may have been first enslaved in Iowa by the Winnebago Nation.[2] In 1726 she was given to French trader René Bourassa near Baie-des-Puants (now Green Bay) who in turn gifted the child to Madeline Coulon de Villiers, the widow of François-Antoine Lefebvre Duplessis Faber, who lived in Montreal at the home of Étienne Volant de Radisson, a merchant.[2] In 1735 she was sold to Louis Fornel, and again in 1740 to Marc-Antoine Huart Dormicourt.[1] She was, apparently, not compliant, and Dormicourt complained that she was a libertine, a drunkard, and a thief, and sought to transport her to Martinique.[1][2]

With the assistance of lawyer Jacques Nouette, Duplessis challenged Dormicourt's authority as her master.[3] On or about 1 October 1740 she presented a petition claiming to be the baptised daughter of Duplessis Faber, and asking the court to recognize that she was a free woman.[1] On 20 October 1740 the court rejected her petition and recognised Huart Dormicourt as her master and owner.[1] Although her appeal for freedom was unsuccessful, she was one of the first enslaved people in New France who succeeded in even having her case heard by a court.[1]

Nothing is known of her after 1740; she was likely sent to labour in Martinique and may not have survived the journey.[1][2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Paquin, Michel (1979–2016). "Duplessis, Marguerite". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Havrylyshyn, Alexandra (2011). Troublesome trials in New France: the itinerary of an old regime legal practitioner, 1740-1743 (MA). McGill University.
  3. ↑ Havrylyshyn, Alexandra (January 2021). "Troublesome Trials: How a Parisian Legal Practitioner Disrupted the Order of New France". The William and Mary Quarterly. 78 (1): 45–78. doi:10.5309/willmaryquar.78.1.0045. S2CID 234238933.
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