The Hermann-Grima House
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The Hermann-Grima House at 820 St. Louis Street, which today operates as an historic house museum, was a site of enslavement from its construction in 1831 through the Civil War. At least sixty people of African descent served both the Hermann and Grima families in a variety of capacities.
The first owner of the home, for whom it was built, was Samuel Hermann, a German-born commodities broker. Félix Grima, his wife Adelaide, and their four children moved into the home in 1844, and members of the family remained here until 1921.
One of the many ways Hermann earned a living was by acting as an agent and broker for plantation owners. Planters obtained goods, cash, and credit from a local New Orleans factor, such as Hermann, and pledged sufficient land and enslaved people as collateral. As a notary, Grima spent day after day witnessing and documenting the sales of enslaved people. Therefore, were it not for the booming slave market in 19th-century New Orleans, neither Hermann nor Grima would have had the means to afford the house you are looking at now.
In early 1831, Hermann hired Virginian William Brand to build the main house for his family and at least one other building on the property, a three-story brick structure. While Brand’s name appears on the contract, the actual construction of these buildings was almost certainly completed by enslaved bricklayers owned by Brand.
The second and smaller of the brick structures is adjacent to the large courtyard behind the main house; in the 19th century, its upper floors served as housing for the men, women, and children enslaved by the Hermanns and Grimas. On the ground floor are four workrooms, where most of the enslaved people would spend their waking hours. These include an ironing room, a wine room, a scullery (or washroom), and a hearth kitchen.
In an urban setting such as this one, enslaved men and women working in and just off the courtyard could be under constant supervision—in this case, from the second-floor balcony on the back of the house. For the Hermanns and, beginning in 1844 after the sale of the home, the Grimas, this was another means of exercising control over them and threatening punishment.
Still, enslaved people found creative ways to protest their bondage: breaking tools, working slowly, purposeful errors, intentional forgetfulness or clumsiness, theft, and, most importantly, running to freedom. In the 1860 census, four of the six people enslaved by Félix Grima are listed as “fugitive from the state.” Sam Cunningham, a man enslaved by Samuel Hermann Jr. (but listed as living at this address on an 1838 tax record) was jailed for running away. A newspaper advertisement likely referring to Sam describes him as “an elegant dresser” with “4 gold rings on his left hand” and “a broach,” implying that he was as well dressed as an urban enslaved man might be.
View the images below to learn more about how enslaved people lived and worked in this space. Then, visit the next stop on this tour to learn more about one family of enslaved people who once lived in the Hermann-Grima house until gaining their freedom and a home of their own just a few blocks away on 727-729 Burgundy Street.
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Slave quarters building
Working and living in indoor-outdoor spaces such as these could be incredibly uncomfortable, particularly in the brutal heat of the New Orleans summer, when the afternoon sun shone directly into the windows and doorways of the slave quarters. | Source: Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses
Hearth
The extremely high temperatures of the hearth would have been dangerous for the young cook Oliver and other enslaved cooks. The mobile crane was meant to reduce fires and burns caused by the handling of hot cooking implements—particularly considering the flammability of an enslaved woman’s long cotton dress and sleeves. Unable to read or write, these men and women would cook recipes passed down orally in their own families or those they were forced to memorize after being taught by an older enslaved cook or one of the matriarchs who enslaved them. Oliver was an enslaved 15-year-old bought by Samuel Hermann in 1830; he lived with the Hermanns for thirteen years. Upon Mr. Hermann’s 1843 sale of Oliver, now 28, he is described as a cook. This likely meant he apprenticed with the older cooks living on the property. | Source: Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses
Keys
Pantries were kept locked due to the number of workmen and delivery people making their way in and out of the courtyard and to discourage anyone other than a few specified people from accessing valuable spices, teas, alcohol, or silver. | Source: Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses
Ironing Room
Ironing and cooking were two of the more dangerous as well as skilled positions for urban enslaved people working in homes. Both required significant knowledge and working with fire. Mary was an enslaved ironer and laundress for the Hermanns beginning sometime before 1838. It is likely she was with the family for a considerable amount of time, as after Mrs. Hermann’s death, her son Louis Florian purchased Mary from his mother’s estate with the intention of emancipating her – and did so several months later. | Source: Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses
Irons
Sarah, enslaved by the Hermanns from 1832 until 1851, worked in this space as a laundress and, before her sale in 1851, in the kitchen as a cook. Weights and a variety of irons were tools commonly used by laborers in the workrooms of upscale urban residences. | Source: Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses
Bedroom
Urban environments generally offered better food, clothing, and shelter for enslaved people. While certainly a benefit for those enslaved, this also benefited enslavers. The close living quarters of a city meant enslavers were physically closer to those they enslaved, and thus they desired better-dressed, healthier, and cleaner enslaved people around them. While urban living quarters were by and large improved from the plantation, they were still cramped, poorly ventilated, and unreliably sufficient. This room could have housed an enslaved mother and child, like Maria, who Samuel Hermann purchased in 1821 when she was seventeen, and her son, James. They two lived with Hermanns for seventeen years, most of James’ life. When they were sold, a condition of the sale was that they be sold out of the state and were never to return within 200 miles of New Orleans. On the sale document, Hermann accuses Maria of being “addicted to drunkenness” and James of stealing money from the family. Unfortunately for the mother and son and the vast number of enslaved people at this time, they did not have legal recourse to defend themselves from these accusations and were forced to suffer whatever consequences were assigned to them. | Source: Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses
Stables
The Grimas added the stables and carriage house to the property not long before Félix Grima’s 1850 purchase of a 36-year-old “griffe” named Felix, for $1200. Felix served the Grimas as a coach driver, a house servant, and possibly even a cook. | Source: Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses