Olivier Le Jeune


Olivier Le Jeune was the first recorded slave purchased in New France.
Olivier was a young boy from Madagascar, believed
to have been approximately 7 years of age when he was brought to the outpost of Quebec in New France by the English. He was sold to British commander David Kirke or one of his brothers. Shortly afterwards, the boy was sold to Olivier Le Baillif, a French clerk in the pay of the English.
When Quebec was handed back to the French in 1632, Le Baillif left the colony and gave his slave to a Quebec resident, Guillemette Couillard. The boy was educated in a school established by the Jesuit priest, Father Le Jeune. In 1632, the boy said to Father Le Jeune: "You say that by baptism I shall be like you: I am black and you are white, I must have my skin taken off to be like you." Nevertheless, Father Le Jeune baptised him as Olivier in 1633, after the colony's head clerk, Olivier Letardif. Olivier later adopted the name Le Jeune, the surname of the Jesuit priest.
Olivier Le Jeune died on 10 May 1654. It is believed that by the time of his death his official status was changed from that of slave to that of free "domestic servant".
Although he is often referred to as a black African from Madagascar, he may have been of partial Malay ancestry, which would have been quite common owing to the fact that Madagascar had been originally settled by diverse peoples of both South-East Asia as well as Africa.