"Fatal golden dreams": the founding of New Orleans, 1718-1731 -- Formation of the planter class and a stable order -- Black majority: slaves and free Blacks during the French regime -- Two communities, one creole society: the interweaving of white and Black lives -- A North American slave society: New Orleans in comparative view -- The cession to Spain, the insurrection of 1768, the visitation of Alejandro O'Reilly, and the reconsolidation of the planter class, 1769-1803 -- Blacks, the slave trade, and the advent of sugar, 1769-1803 -- The slave society of Spanish New Orleans in comparative context -- Napoleon's louisianicide and the new republican order: the planter class supreme -- An old regime made anew: slaves and free Blacks in the postcolonial era -- Black Manon in the capital city of the slave South -- Epilogue: Madame Plantou's Mardi Gras mask for New Orleans, 1819
