This name change was unique among freed African-Americans during this time.
Previous Name (birth-1725)
What is known about him was he was taken by the Le Nereide from Cabinda to Biloxi when it was a French colony. He was brought there in 1721 and was bound in slavery.
After being freed, he would become the state executioner for Louisiana for 12 years.
Louis Congo (1725-death)
Louis: after Louisiana
Congo: after the Congo Basin
When he was freed, he signed his own name as Louis Congo, after two places he held significant. What was especially unusual for a black man at the time was that he was able to sign his own name.
It has been speculated that he would have known about the Congo Basin, because the ship he was taken on was the only one to reach what would eventually become known as the Portuguese Congo.
Sources
- \”Louis Congo.\” Wikipedia.
- Sublette, Ned. The world that made New Orleans: from Spanish silver to Congo Square. Chicago Review Press, 2008.