In 1984, Dr. Gwendolyn Hall, a professor emerita of history at Rutgers University, stumbled upon a treasure of historical data in a courthouse in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. For the next 15 years, Dr. Hall rummaged through documents from all over Louisiana (as well as archives in France, Spain and Texas) and uncovered the background of approximately 100,000 slaves who were brought to...